


Prime's Daughter

by TheNinjaGirl93



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 15:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 42,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19466512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNinjaGirl93/pseuds/TheNinjaGirl93
Summary: Optimus Prime tells us the story about his daughter.This was originally on Fanfiction.net.





	1. Chapter 1

Prolog:  
My name is Optimus Prime. The story I want to tell you a story about my daughter, but where to start? I suppose I should start form the beginning...  
I met my companion, Raindown, when she eleven Earth years old. I was her mentor, teaching her everything I knew about weapons, Cybertron, and how to care for others. At this time we were in not at war and all lived in peace. My father, Alpha Trion, made sure this peace wasn't disturbed for many stellar cycles before he was killed by my best friend, Megatron.  
Raindown was a pretty, but strange, fembot. She had a very strange sense of humor and could trick you in to almost anything. She tricked me into helping her clean one of the guns in the armory, which when opened blew gun powder into the air covering everything.  
Her bright green optics lit up at the sight of me.  
"You look so funny!" she laughed.  
I looked at myself in one of the metal walls that hadn't gotten covered. My blue optics stuck out like a sore circuit against the black powder on my face. I laughed when I threw powder at her. Now she looked like me.

Nine years later, when she was eighteen and I was twenty three, I asked Rain to bond with me. I asked her in Cybertronion Park, which is now, sadly, a fiery wreck.  
"*Gasp,*" she breathed. "Optimus…I… Yes!"  
She leaped into my arms and kissed me.

Not a year, later a shot rang out through the town. Bots were running out of the Town Hall shouting "Alpha Trion has been shot!"  
"No." I had said to myself running up to the building, leaving Raindown with my friend Rocket and his companion Coraline in the park.  
I ran as fast as I could to my Sires office only to find him on the ground, shot in the chest, bleeding oil and energon everywhere.  
"Optimus," He said through the oil in his mouth. "You…must stop him."  
"Who? Sire…who?" I cried.  
"Me…mega." He said weakly.  
"Tell me, Trion." I said holding back tears.  
"Megatron." Alpha Trion said before going offline. I stared into his dead grey optics for a moment. I couldn't belive what I was seeing.  
"Sire…Sire. NO!" I cried as Raindown, Rocket and Coraline came in.  
"Sweet spark, what's…" Raindown said running in. "Oh slag. Optimus…I…"  
She put her arms around me. I broke down with her holding me.

That night everyone gathered at the Town Hall to morn over our loss.  
"Optimus," I heard a voice call. It was my freind, Red Alert. "I…I'm so sorry."  
He gave me a hug and then hugged Raindown. I didn't hug back though. I didn't want anyone to be near me right me. I wanted to find Megatron and find out why he did this. As far as I knew, he had loved and respected Alpha Trion as much as I had. Slag, we had been raised as brothers.  
"I need some air." I said more to myself than anyone. I didn't notice the sad look my friends and family gave me as I left.

I had walked all the way to Megatron's bunker before I heard Rocket calling to me. Apparently he had followed me to make sure I was safe.  
"Optimus!" He panted. "W-where are you going?"  
"To find Megatron." I called back.  
"Megatron?" he said catching up to me. "As in General Megatron? You old friend?"  
"Yes, Sire said he did it to him." I said in a monotone voice.  
"Wha… but how? Why?" Rocket said, his deep blue optics widening.  
"I don't know."

I knocked on the door and immediately Megatron answered.  
"What do you want?" Megatron yelled.  
"Why did you do it?" I yelled.  
"Do what Prime? Why the Pit are you here?" He shot back, he seemed to be a a very foul mood. It was normal for him to be snarky with me but this time something semed off.  
During this time I saw he was covered in thick, black oil.  
"Doing an oil change?" I said sarcastically.  
"What?!" Megatron said. The light went out of his red optics. I knew he did it. "Listen to me Prime…"  
"No," I yelled cutting him off. "You listen. Why did you do it? TELL ME!"  
"Hm, so you want to know why." Megatron said with a smirk. "I did it because I'm done with this 'No fighting only love' slag. Now I'm in charge and I plan to change a few things. See you real soon Prime." I was shocked. Since when did that all change? It was partcially his idea in the first place.  
He laughed and slammed the door before Rocket or I could respond.  
"Prime…" Rocket said giving me a solemn look.  
"I know. We need to tell the others" I said transforming and taking off of the base. Rocket wasn't far behind.

When we got there Red Alert pulled me to the side.  
"Optimus great news." He said with a smile.  
"Not now I…" I started  
"Raindown's carrying!" Red Alert said grabbing my shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

Sire= Father Creator= Mother Stellar cycles= Years Nano Click = Second Pit= hell Well of All Sparks= heaven Mech=boy/man Fembot/femmie=girl/women

I stopped struggling and looked at Red Alert. Had I heard him right? Could she really be.  
Red Alert apperently read my expression and smiled. "We need to get her and Coraline to the Medic Bay." He said turning his back to me and Rocket, but Rocket stopped him.  
"What? Coraline?" Rocket said in a shocked voice. "What's wrong with her?" He hadn't heard the news.  
"You didn't know?" Red responded, shocked but smiling. "She's having a little bot too!"  
Rocket almost fainted, and would have if we hadn't caught him. He could act like such a femmie some times.  
"Like I was saying," Red Alert started again. "We need to take them to the Medic Bay so I can plant the chips into pods so they can grow into sparklings."  
This would be Rocket and Coraline's second sparkling. Their first bot was Hot Shot. Hot Shot was now four and a half and in training to become a war bot, just like his Sire.  
"Red, will you take Raindown and Coraline? We need to tell the rest of the bots what really happened to my Sire." I said lightly pushing on his shoulder to pass him, but he grabbed my arm.  
"What you know who killed him?" Red Alert said as his blue optics light up.  
"Yes, it was Megatron." Rocket blerted out before I could shut him up, thought I was glad that Rocket spoke up. I could barely say it myself.  
"Prime," Red Alert said smiling. "That's impossible. He loves you and loved you Sire like family.  
"Apparently he only wanted to get close to kill Alpha Trion." I said shaking off his hand.  
Raindown ran up to me and kissed me before I could get away from Red Alert.  
"Optimus," She said excitedly. "Did you hear? We're having a sparkling!" Luckily she hadn't heard our conversation. I didn't want her to worry too much.  
Hot Shot and Coraline ran past us to Rocket to tell him their good news. How could I ruin this one happy moment in our time of despair? I hated to tear everyone apart.  
"No, that's great." I said with all the excitement I could muster. "Rain, I know who killed my Sire...it was Megatron." I sighed.  
"What?" she said putting her arms around my neck again. "But isn't he like your half brother?" This was true.

After my Creator died my Sire put his arms around both me and Megatron and had said, "Optimus, Megatron. I need to tell you something." There was some sadness in his voice.  
"What is it sir?" Megatron had said.  
"You're...both my sons. Megatron is you half brother Optimus." he said looking at me. Past him, I saw the shock in Megatron's face. I didn't know then but now that I think about it, I also saw anger deep with in his optics.  
After Alpha Trion said this to us, our relationship went south. Megatron never spoke to me again. I couldn't understand this at the time. I was only six, and he was eight.

"Yes, Rain I need you to go with Red Alert and Coraline to the Medical Bay." I sad and gently pushed her towards the medic bot.  
"But…" She tried to fight back.  
"No Rain. I need you to do this. I don't want you to be here if a riot breaks out." I said. She pulled me into a hug and sighed sadly. I know she wanted to be there but if by chance a riot did break, I wasn't going to risk her and our sparklings life.  
I let her go and she went to Red Alert. He was standing at the door with Hot Shot, Coraline and Rocket. Rocket was hugging Coraline and smiling at Hot Shot.  
"I promise I'll be there as soon as I can." I said to Raindown. She looked at me once more with sad green optics.  
"Rocket are you staying?" I asked turning to him.  
Rocket gave his bond mate a sad look and said "Yes."  
"Stay?" Coraline cried. "Why on Cybertron would you do that?"  
"I need to help Prime with something." He said avoiding her gaze. Apperently, he wasn't going to tell Coraline about Megatron.  
"What's so important that you can't be there for you bonded!?" She yelled, her blue optics flashed with anger.  
"We know who killed my Sire." I said saving Rocket from being torn up into scrap metal. She stared at me with a surprised look.  
"Who?" She asked  
"Megatron." Red Alert and Raindown said at the same time.  
Unfortunately, not only had Coraline and Hot Shot heard it, so did everyone else.  
Everyone was whispering:  
"What did he say?"  
"What about the General?"  
Those were only some of the whispers I heard. Others were no too kind.  
"Come on, let's go Creator." Hot Shot whispered and took Corday and Rain's hands and led them toward the door, with Red following.  
As soon as they where gone, Rocket and I ran up to the podium.  
"Fembots and Mechs, I need you to listen." I said as loud as I could so everyone could hear me. "I know who killed my Sire. It was...Megatron." I hesatated a bit but the truth had to be known.  
Gasps were heard in every direction. Some whispered that I was crazy, and others said he was planning this for stellar cycles. Then someone started clapping.  
"Well, well Prime," Megatron said as the crowd split to let him through. "You couldn't keep our little secret could you? You had to tell the whole damned world about it."  
One fembot screamed at the sight of all the oil he still had on him, my Sire's oil. I wondered why he still hadn't bothered to clean himself off.  
"What the Pit are you doing here Megatron?" I shouted.  
"What else would I be doing?" He sneered. "I want to clame my place as leader."  
As he said this some rouge Academy bots burst through the ceiling.  
"Bulldozer," Megatron shouted "Take all the fembots to the back room. Bonecrusher, make sure none of the Mechs follow."  
Megatron, Bonecrusher and another one I've never seen before formed their guns and aimed at all the mechs while Bulldozer took the fembots. I wasn't sure what he had planned for the femmies, but it couldn't have been good.  
As soon as the femmies where gone, Megatron let the mechs leave the building. Rocket and I looked at on another. We both needed to see if Raindown and Coraline were ok.


	3. Chapter 3

We ran as fast as we could the Medical Bay. As soon as we got there we ran to Red Alert's office where Coraline and Raindown where sitting on a table.  
"Wow, Babe you look great." Rocket said hugging Coraline.  
Red Alert had already put the chips into the pods and inserted the pods into the femmies lower abdomen. Coraline's pod fit perfectly into her body, for she had already had a little bot, so her armor knew to stretch more. Raindown on the other hand, looked as though something had gone wrong. The only way I knew this wasn't true was because I'd seen Coraline when she was carrying Hot Shot.  
Rain's pod was sticking out a little so you could see the wires in the glass pod form around the chip.  
"Don't you dare say I look funny." Rain scowled at me.  
"Ha," I said. "I could, but I think you look beautiful."  
"You're just saying that so I don't rip you into scrap metal." She said smiling and kissing me. This was harder to do now that her middle was sticking out two feet. No need to say but it was awkward.  
"Woh, is this what it looks like when femmie's are pregnant?!" Hot Shot said coming into the room. "How come Rain's is sticking out more Creator?"  
"It's normal for first time Creators." Red Alert said turning to him. " Her armor might or might not cover it all the way later on."  
"Oh." Hot Shot said as his face plate heated up. "Sorry."  
"It's ok Hottie." Rain smiled. "So, how did it go?"  
"What? Oh right." I said snapping back to reality. "Coraline, Raindown, and Hot Shot you need to go into hiding."  
"What?" they said in unison.  
" Optimus, what is this about?" Coraline asked.  
"Megatron is sending all fembots to the main base." I said. "In other words he's kidnapping all fembots so he can raise an army."  
"Honey I think your being paranoid." Raindown said taking my hand.  
"No, Rain it's true I…" Rocket tried to say but a flare went through the hallway and exploded near the door.  
Screams were heard from all around the building.  
"Quickly this way." Red Alert said opening a door in the back of the room.  
"You two go," I told to Raindown and Coraline as Rocket and I formed our guns.  
As they ran out, a robot came through the door. It was the one that pointed the gun at me earlier, the one I didn't know.  
"There you are Prime," he said aiming a gun at me. "Megatron says to bring you to him so he can kill you."  
He aimed at my head and fired up. Right then Hot Shot went under his arm and shot him in the chest. The bot fell backwards with a cry of surprise.  
"Thanks." I said to Hot Shot.  
"So, now what do we do sir?" Hot Shot said turning to me.  
"We…need to go," I said turning to Red Alert. "We need to find a place to hide. Then we'll come back and recruit bots."  
"Recruit?" Rocket cried. "Optimus, are you saying we…fight?"  
I nodded. "Yes Rocket, I'm saying we must."  
"Wow, the first war on Cybertron…" Red Alert said solemnly.

"So what do we call ourselves?" Hot Shot chirped as we entered the tunnel.  
"We'll call ourselves the Autobots." I said as I helped Red shut the door.  
"Autobots?" Hot Shot said looking confused.  
"It was his Sire's nickname in the army." Red Alert said. "He was called Auto because everything came to him automatically."  
Hot Shot tilted his head in confusion. Rocket rolled his optics and put an arm around him.  
"Come on." He said. "Let's go find Rain and Corday."  
As we walked further down the tunnel, we could hear Raindown and Coraline. They were about a mile away.  
"Raindown!" I cried  
"Coraline!" Rocket cried with me.  
"Creator!" Hot Shot said taking off, running full speed down the tunnel.  
"Hot Shot wait!" Rocket called after him.

We all ran after Hot Shot trying to get him to come back. We weren't sure if it was them or not. As we got closer to where Rain and Corday were, we saw two bots holding them hostage. Hot Shot has his guns raised but he didn't dare shoot. He knew better. He risked hitting his Creator, Raindown, and the two unborn sparklings.  
"Put your weapons down or we'll shoot." One yelled, his optics gleaming.  
I had no choice. I formed my guns, took careful aim, and fired at the bots. After the sound of the gunfire died, I heard Raindown and Coraline screaming. When the smoke finally cleared, we could see why.  
They weren't hurt but the bad bots where. Some how I had managed to get a clear shot at both of their heads. Energon and oil where leaking on to the femmies and coating them in blood. Rocket and I rushed over to help them get the bots off.  
"What the Pit where you thinking?" Rocket cried as we got over to them.  
"I had no choice." I said helping Rain to her feet. "They could have killed us all."  
"So you shot at us?" Raindown said glaring at me.  
"No I..."  
"You could have killed the four of us!" Coraline shouted.  
At first I didn't understand what she was saying, and that must have shown on my face.  
"HELLO WE'RE PREGNANT!" she yelled, her voice echoed through the tunnel.  
"Right… I… guess I wasn't thinking." I said looking at the ground. "I just…I wanted to protect you guys…but I guess..." I tried to say.  
"It's ok. No one was hurt…of us anyway." Rain said lifting my head and kissing me.  
Everyone was silent the rest of the way down. After about an hour of more walking, we finally got to a hatch. When Red Alert opened it we found ourselves in a large bunker.  
"Where are we?" Hot Shot said looking around with wide blue optics.  
"This is an emergency bunker for if the Medical Bay got full." Red Alert said closing the door behind us. "Trion also built it for if a war broke out."  
"Ironic." Rocket said helping Coraline sit down. "A bot about peace built a war bunker."  
"Ya never know do you." Red said sitting by Hot Shot, whose optics where glazed over from all the excitement.  
"It's perfect Red." I said looking around. "This will become our head quarters."


	4. Chapter 4

After we got Raindown, Coraline and Hot Shot settled into the bunker, Red Alert, Rocket and I left to find some others who wanted to join or needed help. As Red shut the hatch, we heard them crying. Rocket and I wanted to run back in there to tell them everything would be ok. I wanted so badly to hold Raindown and tell her that everything was going to be ok, even if I wasn't sure myself. The thing that stopped us was Red Alert.  
"We need help. We can't do this alone." He said taking our arms.  
He practically had to push us all the way down the tunnel back to the Medical Bay building.  
As was got closer to the door, we saw that the door had been bent inward toward us.  
"Be ready for anything." I said as we formed our guns.  
Red stepped forward and pried the door open and we stepped inside. When we stepped in we saw his office had been destroyed. There where bullet holes and oil spilled everywhere.  
"Help…" Someone called. "Please…anybody there?"  
We ran out to the hall to see a young bot bleeding oil and Energon.  
"Is…is someone there?" He said in a weak voice.  
"Yes, we're here." Red said rushing to his side." What's your name youngling?"  
"My…my name is…is Surefire." The bot said. "I can't feel my l…legs sir."  
We looked down and saw one leg was missing and the other was broken into pieces.  
"Optimus, will you go into my office and find a flat, metal piece. I need to stop the bleeding." Red Alert said to me narrowing his blue optics. I knew that look well. It meant Surefire might not last.  
I ran back into his office and looked around. It wasn't hard to find some metal since the whole room was torn to pieces. the only hard part was finding one without too many holes in it.  
'Megatron, why the Pit are you doing this?' I though to myself. 'There's no need for this.'  
I picked up a piece of metal that that didn't have too many bullet holes in it and ran back to Red Alert.  
"Thanks Prime." Red said taking it and heating it so he could bend it in to place.  
"AHHHHH!" Surefire screamed when Red put the hot metal on his leg.  
"Please hold still. It won't hurt as much if you quit struggling." Red said holding Sure's shoulder.  
While Red was repairing Surefire, I heard another cry for help.  
"Rocket, Optimus, go find out who it is. I'll be there as soon as I can. I need to get him to the base." Red Shouted.  
"Right, will do." Rocket said. He had a far off look on his face, as if his body was an empty shell.  
I knew how he felt. We had lived in a place with no war. Now that had all changed in a matter of mega cycles.  
"Help!" a fembot screamed. "No, please don't shoot! My brothers done nothing to harm anyone. He's just a sparkling!"  
Then the worst sound any bot could hear the sound of a gun and the scream of a femmie who saw it all. We ran guns drawn into the room where we heard the screams. The femmie was crying as the evil bot, known as Bonecrusher, picked her up to carry her away.  
"Aww, look," Her said turning to us and turning the girls head. "It's Prime and his pathetic friend."  
At that he shot at us. Lucky for us he had bad aim. He shot around us but never hit. On the other hand, we had excellent aim and shoot him right in the processor. He wasn't dead, but at least he was down so we could get the fembot.  
She was young, maybe eight or nine. Then we saw here brother. He had been shot multiple times in the body but the shot to the head killed him. He was only three months by the look, for he didn't have any armor around his body to protect him.  
Rocket picked up the femmie and asked for her name.  
"S…St…Stu…" She tried to say but to shocked at what had happened to talk.  
"It's ok," I said putting a hand on her shoulder. "We'll protect you from harm. Rocket," I said as we walked out of the room "Take her to the Autobot base. I'm going to look for some others."  
"You got it boss." He said still looking out of it.

As he got further away I couldn't help but think about our unborn bots. What would it be like to grow up in a corrupt world not knowing of peace?  
I wiped a tear away and walked into another room. There I found a small young mech hiding under a table. I picked him up and he chirped a little before settling in to my arms.  
I patrolled the whole building and found some more bots hiding out. I told them to come with me to a safe place. Out of the five bots I'd found the only one that needed carried was the young mech, who had lost his Sire. One of the bots was a medic named Ratchet. He told me the young bots name was Jetfire. He was only six months old. Another youngling named Jazz told me he was Jetfire's charge if any thing happened to his parents. After some introductions I took them to the door that lead to the bunker.  
"What is this Prime?" a mech named Prowl asked. "Some way to get us to Megatron?"  
"No," I said taken aback. "This leads to Autobot base, the…safe house or base of the rebellion if you wish."  
We entered the tunnel and I lead them to the hatch at the end of it. When we got there we could hear the bots inside talking. I opened the hatch and every thing went quiet. Everyone looked at us. The first to move was Raindown who ran to me and put her arms around my neck.  
"Optimus, what happened? What was it like out there?" She said, tears streaming down her face.  
I put an arm around her, while beckoning the others inside with the other. When she saw Jetfire she smiled and stroked his helm. He chirped in response as I set him on his feet.  
"Prime what happened?" Coraline said as Rocket embraced her.  
"As you can see Coraline, it's not good out there." I said as the new recruits sat down.  
The only one that didn't was Jetfire, who was hiding behind me. When Rain took his hand and sat down he let out a little yelp, but he settled in her lap and hugged her. She gently rubbed his helm as we talked and he fell in to recharge. Again my mind went to our offspring and what their world was going to be like.


	5. Chapter 5

A few weeks later more bots came to join our team. This is when we began building on to the base.  
Also during this time Hot Shot and Rocket came up with a badge all Autobots would wear. It was a red face that looked like my father, who looked a little like I did. Once the mold was finished, we all got it stamped on to us after Red made the pieces.  
It took two months for the base to be finished. By this time we had over two hundred Autobots recruited. A few days after complication, Raindown and Coraline's pods where ready to be removed. The bots would be the first to be born during the war.  
Both femmies where rushed to the new Medical Bay. Red and Ratchet had Rocket and I wait outside the door until the femmies where done.  
Rocket and I waited outside not knowing what would happen or what was going on. Twenty kliks later Red Alert came out saying the bot's had been born…at the same time. We gave him a confused look. Bots that weren't twins that are born at the same time are rare, almost unheard of.  
"Come see them for yourselves." He said stepping out of our way.  
We walked in and saw our bonded sitting there with these strange gray things in their arms.  
'That's what a sparkling looks like?' I thought. I had seen Hot Shot but he was much bigger and a few months old.  
"Optimus," Raindown said looking up to me, she sounded tired. " It's a femmie."  
I sat down next to her and look at the little gray mass of wires and bolts. She looked up at me and I saw she had the same rare green optics her Creator had. She blinked and gave me a look like she wasn't sure what was going on.  
"What should we name her?" I said as the little bot grabbed my finger.  
"How about…Starlight." Rain said rubbing the sparklings helm. "Because her optics light up like the stars above."  
I smiled at Raindown and kissed her head. "That's perfect."  
"Rocket don't hurt him!" Coraline said in a worried and tried voice.  
"I won't." He said holding his sparkling above his head.  
Coraline looked at us with tired sky blue optics. She seemed to be used to this.  
"I hope he doesn't drop Bumblebee on his head like he did with Hot Shot." She said smiling.  
"I was dropped?!" Hot Shot said as he entered the room. The poor youngling looked terrified.  
"Explains a lot doesn't it boy?" Rocket said handing Bumblebee to Hot Shot.  
"Uhh…I don't," Hot Shot tried to say but was forced to hold his little brother any way. "Uhh…hi."  
I watched Hot Shot hold Bee in an awkward position which caused Bee to cry out. Bee had tiny door wings that Hot Shot accidently pinched.  
"Here you hold her." Raindown said giving me Starlight.  
She was heaver than she looked. Star looked at me with giant green optics and chirped. She clicked and cooed as she setteled in my arms. Then Bumblebee and Starlight started to make a strange beeping noise.  
"Uhh…what's going on?" Hot Shot said holding Bumblebee away from him agian.  
"Sound like their calling for each other." Red Alert said taking Bee from Hot Shot. As he brought him closer to Starlight it got louder until they touched, then they stopped.  
"What…what just happened?" I whispered.  
"I…I guess since they where born at the same time, they have this connection. The only why to stop the sound seems to be to have them touch." Red Alert said looking confused himself. "Usually this only happens with twins."  
When I looked down at the little ones they where holding hands and looking at each other, it was cute. Bumblebee was purring while Starlight just gave him a confused look and warbled.

As we left the Bay and headed back to our bunkers, Rocket come up to me and whispered, "Think Prime, if Bee or Star ever get lost, we can us the other to find them."  
This made me think, if one died would the other be able to locate their body or would they be lost forever? I shook the thought out of my processor and tried to think of something happier.

The first night with Starlight was the hardest. She didn't cry much, but she just wouldn't sleep. With those big bright green optics of hers, she lit up the whole room; she didn't let us sleep either.  
"Starlight sweetie please, go to sleep." Raindown cooed in a sleepy voice as she picked her up for the millionth time.  
"Maybe she's not tired." I said yawning. "Here let me see her."  
Raindown rolled her optics and handed her to me. Starlight looked up and cooed again. I started to hum a song that my creator used to sing to me when I wouldn't recharge.  
"Never knew you could sing." Raindown said giving me a sly look.  
"Never really had the chance too." I said looking at the now recharging Starlight.  
"Well at least it worked." She said taking Star and laying her back down.  
I smiled and we went back to the berth, now we could recharge in peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Only a few months after being sparked Starlight started to crawl. To keep her out of trouble, we took her to the main deck so she could practice without getting squished. It was a large space and very few bots came there.  
We got there and saw Rocket and Coraline had brought Bumblebee to do the same thing. Starlight and Bumblebee started to beep again, but this time they crawled and hugged each other. It made me laugh.  
"They grow up so fast." Coraline said with tears in her optics.  
"Oh Primus here we go." Hot Shot said leaning up against a wall.  
We laughed, but I stopped when I felt something run in to my leg.  
"Oh Starly, are you ok?" Rain said picking her up. Starlight was crying but made no noise. This wasn't normal, she should be screaming in pain.  
Just then the alarms when off causing both the younglings and us to cry out. Bumblebee hid behind his creator and Starlight hid her face in Rain's shoulder.  
"Hot Shot, stay here and watch them." Rocket said picking up Bee and giving him to his older brother.  
"But I…ok." Hot Shot said after receiving a look from Rocket and took Bumblebee.  
Raindown reluctantly gave Starlight to Hot Shot, she kissed her helm and ran out of the room with me. I was worried that a bot so young was watching them but we had not other choice.

Hot Shot's View:  
"I can't take care of them." I said out loud. "I'm only five stellar cycles!"  
I sighed and I looked at my brother and Starlight. I set them down and they looked up at me and tilted their heads in confusion.  
"Well…go play," I said looking back at them. "Go on."  
Bumblebee made beeping noises in a high pinched voice  
Starlit turned to him and warbled back to him in the same voice.  
"Huh?" I didn't understand. The sparklings can't talk yet, but they seemed to know what one another is saying.  
Then they sat down and stared at me. I looked down and them, they looked really small now. I was at least ten feet tall and they where at least three or four feet. So I decided to sit with them to seem less intimidating. They both sat up and backed away even before I was on my knees.  
"I won't hurt you." I said.  
They beeped and started to crawl.  
"Hey wait." I cried running after them.  
They screamed and started to laugh. 'Oh I get it, they're playing a game!' I thought to my self. So I laughed and cashed them. We must have played chase of at least two megacycles and where having such a blast I didn't ever notice our parents came in.

Optimus's View:  
When we entered the main deck we saw all three of them playing together.  
Starlight laughed crawling up to Hot Shot and holding on to his leg.  
"Oh no you got me. I am going down." He said pretending to fall and sitting on the ground.  
Both little bots laughed and hugged Hot Shot.  
"So much for not wanting to spark sit Hottie." Rocket said smiling at his son.  
"I…never said that." Hot Shot said holding Bumblebee and Starlight in one arm.  
"Uh huh sure." Coraline said sarcastically.  
Starlight warbled reaching for Raindown.  
"Hi Starly," she said taking Star form Hot Shot. "Did you have fun? Maybe Hot Shot should spark sit more often."  
Hot Shot's optics flickered with excitement for a nanosec, but being him he had to act like it was nothing. Typical youngling.  
"Aw, they where nothing really." He said folding his arms.  
All four of us rolled our optics.  
"Well, I think I need to call the Autobots to this room for a debriefing. So, Hot Shot, if you don't mind taking them to the bunker…" I said giving him a look.  
"Ok sure." Hot Shot said, his optics flashing again.  
"Hot Shot!" both Starlight and Bumblebee shouted.  
We all looked at them in surprise. They weren't suppose to talk until they where six months.

Hot Shot's View:  
I took Bumblebee from creator and Starlight from Raindown and headed out the door. As I walked out I heard our parents talking about the reasons why they where talking so young. I just wondered why they said my name when, especially Starlight, barley knew me. I shook it out of my head and started walking again.  
I don't know why but I felt like using the tires on my stabilizing servos to get there faster. As we speed through the base, the sparklings where cheering and laughing. When we stopped at the door to my families bunker they where still laughing, and where now starting to hiccup.  
"Hot Shot!" Starlight giggled.  
Maybe I was wrong about them; maybe it wasn't so bad to spark sit.  
When we got in I set them down and they started crawling again. That's about when they started to make a strange chirping noise. It was different from the beeps they made then they where away from each other, this one sounded like a bomb was about to go off.  
"What's wrong?" I asked, as they sat down and looked at me.  
Then Starlight fell over and didn't sit back up.  
"Oh slag." I said running over to her. "Starly, you ok?"  
When I got over to her I saw that she was powered down, not offline but sleeping. I looked at Bumblebee and saw he had powered down too, only he was sitting up. I smiled to myself and scooped them up, and set them on Bumblebee's berth. As they lay down they cuddled up to one another. They looked like an old bonded couple only smaller. The only other thing older bots didn't do was suck on their thumbs, like these two did. Bumblebee also put an arm around Starlight's waist and Star cuddled closer to him. It made me laugh.  
I must have also slipped into recharge because again, I didn't hear them come in.  
"Hot Shot…Hoooot Shooot." Creator said shaking me gently.  
"*Snort* Huh what?" I said waking up to see blurred images. "Oh I …I must have *yawn* fallen asleep."  
"I see that." She sad laughing. "Go ahead and go back to recharge."  
"Not before we thank you." Raindown said pulling me in to a hug and kissing my helm.  
"Come on Rain." Optimus said laughing and picking up Starlight.  
She stirred and whimpered for a second and Bumblebee chirped.  
I think they knew they where being separated again.


	7. Chapter 7

Optimus Prime's View:  
As we left the bunker and said goodnight, Starlight half way opened her optics.  
"Hot Shot?" She said in a sleepy voice.  
"No sweetie. Hot Shot's in his bunker for the night." I said.  
She shifted in my arms and fell back into recharge. I think all that running with Hot Shot and Bumblebee wore out her servos.

When we got in to our bunker and I went to set Star in her berth, she started to cry.  
"What's wrong Starly?" Raindown cooed as she took her from my arms. "Optimus will you get her some Energon? I think she's hungry."  
I went to the corner of the room and pulled out a small Energoncube from the dispenser and took it back to Rain. She tried to feed Starlight but Star pushed the cube away and didn't want to eat.  
"Ok, what's wrong sweet spark?" Raindown said putting Star's head on her shoulder.  
Starlight just kept on crying. Rain then tried to bounce and rock her but nothing worked.  
"You want me to try?" I said putting my arms around her waist.  
"Would you please?" She sighed handing her over.  
Once she was in my arms I started to hum the song again and immediately Starlight quieted down.  
"You're good at this. You sure this is you first sparkling?" Raindown whispered as she set Starlight in her berth again.  
"I'm pretty sure." I whispered and put a hand on her shoulder. We stood and watched our youngling sleep and "awwed" when she started to suck her thumb.  
"Hmmm, Optimus," Rain sighed. "I think we should have another Sparkling."  
"I…uhh…" I said taken aback.  
"I don't mean now." She said giggling. "I meant when she's older."  
I smiled as she wrapped me in a tight embrace. Least to say, we kept each other company through the night.

The next morning I was awoken by a little bot crawling on my chest. How she got there I would never know. She was too small to crawl out of her berth. The fall alone would have injured her.  
She was beeping happily while she playfully hit me every once in a while. I smiled when she stopped to explore a gap in my armor. It tickled but I had to stop from laughing so I didn't knock her off. After a while I decided i wanted to play to so I "attacked" her.  
"Roar!" I yelled as I grabbed her and pulled her in between us. She screamed and started laughing.  
"Mmmm…" Raindown said turning over. "What's going on here?"  
"Look what I found." I said holding a giggling Starlight.  
"What shall we do with it?" She said rubbing Starlight's cheek.  
"I think we should…squish it!" I said and we started to tickle her. Sparklings have all of their wires and gears exposed so it was easy for us to find ticklish spots.  
"Ah hahaha." Star laughed when we stopped.  
I kissed her on the head and she cuddled in between us. I then noticed she had grown a foot over night; slag they grow fast!

We all laid there awhile and talked, Starlight mostly listened and chirped every once in a while, until Star started beeping.  
"Bee!" She cried as she sat up.  
Raindown and I looked at each other. We both knew who Starlight was talking about, Bumblebee, but why was she talking so early? I needed to ask Red Alert later.  
I put Starly on the floor and she must have super crawled to the door, because I turned away for a nano click and she was at the door beeping louder than ever.  
"Bee, Hot Shot!" She said pointing to the door.  
"Alright hold on." Raindown said picking her up so I could open the door.  
When we opened it we saw Bumblebee but he looked scared and he was alone.


	8. Chapter 8

"Bumblebee, where are your parents?" I asked scooping him up.  
Their family lived five bunkers away, but it still wasn't safe for a sparkling to crawl around alone, even if it was inside. We let Starlight and Bumblebee touch before we went to see what was wrong. We got there we saw Rocket, Coraline and Hot Shot all looking frantic.  
"Oh my Primus, Optimus have you seen…" Coraline said running up to me. "Bumblebee!"  
"We found him in front of our bunker." I said handing a now crying Bumblebee to Coraline.  
"How in the world did he get there?" Rocket said running up beside her.  
"I guess…he started beeping when he came closer to us…then waited?" Raindown said holding a very squirmy Starlight. "Ok I'll let you down." As soon as she was down she went for Hot Shot.  
"Hot Shot…" She said hugging Hot Shot's leg.  
"Hey Light." He said picking her up.  
She looked so small in his arms. She probably looked smaller when I held her, for I was fifty two feet tall while Hot Shot was only ten. Bots said Raindown was dwarfed by me, because she was twelve feet shorter than me. Then there was Rocket and Coraline, talk about height difference. Rocket was forty five and Coraline was twenty nine. I wonder what Starlight and Bumblebee's maximum heights will be?

Later that afternoon, after another alarm went off, we all gathered at our bunker. The four of us were talking and had our backs turned to Star and Bee. Unknown to us Starlight and Bumblebee had found an unfired bullet and were playing with it. After a few minutes, we heard a loud pop.  
"Ahhh!" Both sparklings screamed.  
"What the pit?" Rocket said running to them.  
Starlit warbled with wide green optics while Bumblebee coughed and backfired.  
"Oh Primus," Coraline cried. "Who gave them a bullet?"  
"They must have found it on the floor." Raindown said trying to wipe off powder from Starlight and Bumblebee. They kinda looked like Rain and I had when she pulled the prank.  
"Someone needs to take them to the showers." I said trying to help.  
"I'll do it!" Hot Shot said stunning the rest of us.  
"O…ok." Coraline said with a stern but confused look. "But remember don't…"  
"Turn off the acid wash. I know creator." Hot Shot said cutting her off. Corday smiled and gave him Starlight and Bumblebee.

Hot Shot's View:  
"Ok guy's hold on." I said letting them crawl on my shoulders.I held on to their legs and activated the wheels on my feet.  
"Hold on." I said as we took off down the hall.  
We raced as fast as I could go passing bots at high speeds; they cursed at me. I laughed at them, and so did Starlight and Bumblebee, until we got to the showers.  
"Hot Shot!" They cried, clicked and giggled trying to tell me they wanted to do it again.  
"Maybe when we're clean." I said walking them in and setting them down.  
I turned on the water and turned the acid wash off. I knew it would burn them and cause horrible damage since they don't have their protective armor plating yet. When the showers turned on they looked up at the water raining down on them. I realized that this might have been their first bath in their lives, too bad they won't remember.  
Bumblebee pushed Starlight gently on the arm and crawled away. Starlight then bolted after him at her full speed. Since no one was around I figured hey, why not play for a while, so I joined them. After ten minutes, they where clean and worn out, so I decided that we should leave. I picked them up and was about to leave but just as we where about to, a large Autobot named Black Sunshine walked in. He was the meanest of the mean. I always wondered why he wasn't a 'con.  
"This isn't a play area." He said in his low bass voice, he red eyes bore into my blue one's. I was scared but I had to act tough.  
"I know, we…we where just leaving." I said turning to Starlight and Bumblebee.  
I didn't see Black do it, but he must have turned the acid wash on high for Starlight and Bumblebee started screaming bloody murder. I scooped them up and ran as fast as I could to get out of there. They were crying, screaming, and sizzling. I knew then I needed to get them to Red Alert or Ratchet fast. I powered up my wheels and rushed to the medical bay hopeing I wasn't too late to save them. When we finally got there Star and Bee were screaming louder that I ever heard them scream before.  
"RED ALERT, RATCHET, HELP!" I yelled as we entered.  
"Hot Shot…what the pit happened!?" Ratchet said turning to me. When he saw them he gasped and grabbed them, put them in the emergency shower and turned the water on full blast.  
"I…it was...B… Black Sunshine." I said trying to catch my breath. "We where trying to wash off gun powder a…and he came in and said 'this wasn't a play area' and then he turned on the acid and…and…" I broke down and started to cry. I was worried my brother and Starlight where too injured to be repaired.  
"It's ok Hottie." Red said putting an arm around me. "It wasn't your fault. You did every thing you could. Now let me do the rest."  
I calmed down long enough to see they where in the shower and looking up into the water like they had earlier. You could barley see them, as if they where walking out of smoke from the battle field. I also noticed they had stopped screaming but you could still hear them crying a little.  
Right then an injured bot was wheeled in, had the alarms gone off while we were in the showers? I knew who he was but couldn't put my finger on it until he spoke.  
"Nice to see you again," Surefire said looking at me through half closed optics. "How you doin'?"  
"Better than you," I said sarcastically. "What happened?"  
"The usual, the cons kicked my skid plates, then ripped off my arms and beat me with them." He laughed, which caused him some pain.  
"And he's back for more." Red Alert said coming back out from the back room. "Aright Hot Shot, Bumblebee and Starlight are done getting cleaned and Ratchet is patching them up. They should be done in a cycle or so."  
"Let me guess, to much acid?" Surefire said.  
"Yeah…no thanks to Black." I said walking to the back room to find Ratchet.  
I saw Ratchet holding Bumblebee's arm and trying to patch up the hole the acid had made.  
"Hold still little bot and it won't hurt." Ratchet said some what calmly. He sounded like he was about to loose his temper, again.  
"Oww." Bumblebee said as Ratchet tried to weld again. He was able too after I sat behind Bee and held his other hand.  
"There now was that so hard?" he said letting go of Bee.


	9. Chapter 9

After Ratchet was done with Star, who didn't flinch or cry the whole time, I picked them up and we headed out. We had just rounded the corner when we ran into him again.  
"Well lookie here, it's the young Sire." He said blocking my way.  
"Move Black, I need to get these two home." I said avoiding optic contact. This was one guy you really didn't want to mess with.  
"That's Captain Black Sunshine to you boy." He yelled grabbing my arm.  
"No, no hurt!" Starlit said trying to push his hand off of me.  
"Oh I won't." He said taking her arm.  
He squeezed my shoulder with his other hand causing me to let go of Starlight and pulled her towards him. She cried as he got a better grip on her arm and held her in the air. Poor femmie was crying in pain and Black just laughed.  
"Star!" Bumblebee cried.  
"Hey, leave her alone!" I Shouted as I put Bee down. I was too shocked and worried to noticed they were saying more words than usual.  
"Why? I think she likes it." He sneered as he pulled her in once again and kissed her cheek.  
"Black…you're a sick…" I said as he pushed me against the wall.  
"In battle you have to fight for what you want." He said putting Starlight over his shoulder. Poor thing, for no matter how much she kicked and screamed he wouldn't let go. She was just too small to do any damage, and the same went for me.  
"What? Black you're not making any since…oww. Please let her go…" I struggled to say as he pushed me harder against the wall.  
As I said this he formed one of his guns and aimed it at my processor.  
"What's wrong little bot?" He said with a smile. "Too scared to fight?"  
"Hot Shot, Bee!" Starlight screamed as loud as her vocal processor would allow.  
"She's calling for you." He sneered.  
I would have fought him, but he had me up against a wall, but even if he didn't he would have still crushed me with his grip or worst because of my size and age.  
"Black Sunshine…come on…t…this isn't a game." I said weakly.  
"Let them go Black!" someone said from behind him.  
"And who are you to…" Black said turning allowing me to see who it was, Optimus Prime. "Uhh…sir…I."  
"Give me the sparkling and let Hot Shot and his brother go." He said in his, always, calm voice.  
"Sir I…"Black tried again.  
"NOW!" Prime said revving up. That was the first time I've ever heard Prime lose his temper.  
Starlight wimpered with tears running down her cheeks as Prime took her from Black.  
"Come on Hot Shot." He said as I picked up Bumblebee. "Your parents are waiting."

Optimus Prime's view:  
For most of the way back no one spoke. A few times I tried to break the silence but Hot Shot kept shying away.  
"So…what happened?" I asked trying to break the tension again.  
That broke Hot Shot's silence. He stared to tell me every thing from the acid to the run in with Black Sunshine just then.  
"Sir I…I didn't know what to do." He said sounding like he was on the brink of tears.  
I wasn't sure how to answer him. I knew how he felt, for even I was tortured by Black when I was in boot camp. He wasn't the nicest bot but damn did he know how to fight. Unfortunately Sunshine got it into his processor that he was the best at every thing and any new recruit he would torture, but this time he took it too far.  
We arrived at his bunker and Hot Shot was about to open the door but I stopped him.  
"Hot Shot," I said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I guess…just try to avoid Black, no matter what. Okay?"  
He gave a slight smile and walked inside, but even I knew that that was impossible. Black Sunshine always found a way to make life miserable.

When Star and I walked in I nearly fell when Raindown tackled us in a hug.  
"There you are." She said squeezing us. "What took so long?"  
"I ran into Hot Shot and we walked home." I said purposely leaving out details.  
"Ok…descriptive." She said taking Star and gave me a suspicious look.  
Starlight snuggled into her arms a cooed happily. I put my arms around them both not knowing this would be the last time the three of us would be together.


	10. Chapter 10

Starlight talked about her day with Bumblebee and Hot Shot and how,as she put it met a big meany. We had to help her on some words but other wise she just chatted and chirped away. Even after her story was done and she was in bed she still talked away about every thing and any thing she could think of at the moment. Rain and I could hardly hold back our laughs. Still we where surprized at how well she spoke for her age.  
We were finally able to get Starlight to lie down and sleep, but she didn't want to at first because she wanted Bee. We told her that he was sleeping so she finally gave up.  
Exhausted, Raindown and I both laid on our berth with our legs hanging off the edge. We laughed and talked quietly for a while and had just kissed goodnight when the alarm went off.  
"Mommy!" Star cried sitting up with a start.  
"It's ok Starly." Rain said getting up a walking to her. She sat by her and Star climbed on her lap and snuggled up again. Rain held her close and rubbed her helm trying to sooth her.

We heard a knock on the door and Rocket came in not wanting to wait for us to answer.  
"Sir, we have a situation. We need all able Autobots on the field." He said.  
We got up and rushed out the door to follow him. We saw him back at his bunker and he and Coraline where saying bye to Hot Shot and Bee. I think Bumblebee must have just woken up because, even when he started beeping, he barely lifted his head off Hot Shot's shoulder.  
"Hi." Starlight said sleepily as Rain gave her to Hottie.  
"Be careful." Hot Shot said as we took off.

When we got to the field we could see a whole on slot of bots coming up fast.  
"Decepticons, attack!" the bot in front of the mass shouted. I knew that voice all too well, Megatron. At this they started to charge at us, even though they were a hundred yards from us.  
'Decepticons huh? The name is suiting.' I thought to myself as I put my battle mask down.  
"Autobots be ready for any thing." I yelled. "And only kill if you need to." I added as everyone formed their guns and started to run at the hoard.  
Shots rang out into the night and bombs light up the sky making it look like day time. While I was distracted by the strange new sights of war a con come up behind me. Lucky for me he wasn't very quiet and I was able to disarm him easily. I turned around in time to see a comrade in trouble and shot the con in the back. Besides some sneak attacks the battle was fine, that is until he showed up again.  
"Hello Optimus." Megatron said hitting me from behind.  
I tried to get back up but he kicked me in the stomach and I fell back down.  
"Long time no see." He said picking me up and throwing me. "And I hear you have a little family, how sweet. Too bad I have to kill them, along with the rest of the Autobots."  
He came up to me and put his foot on my chest plate and pushed down, hard.  
"Grra..." I cried and he aimed his gun at my head. I shut my optics off and prepared for the worst. A shot rang out but I wasn't offline and I heard Megatron cry out.  
"Get off Deceptiscum." Rocket said taking aim again.  
Another shot rang out but this time it was from Megatron. He had shot Rocket in a fatal point, right in the processor. I watched in horror as Rocket fell to the ground and off lined.  
"Well that takes care…Uff" Megatron cried as I shot him in the midsection.  
"Why Megatron?" I said getting up and shaking in anger. "He had a family!"  
"Good, more to kill." He sneered and took aim at me again. I glared back at him  
I was able to get out of the way and hide under a fallen piece of metal.  
'I'm sorry Rocket. I swear I will avenge you.' I said in my mind.  
I got up and fired a missile which hit my brother in the shoulder.  
"Gaaa," He yelled as he fell to his knees.  
When I looked again I saw that his arm had been shot off and Energon was spilling every where.  
"You'll pay Prime." He said putting his hand to his temple. "Decepticons retreat."  
'That coward...' I thought to myself as I watched him transform and fly off. I was in no condition to chase after him.  
After all the cons had left the field, I ran back up to Rocket. I lifted his head, which was half gone and held him in my arms.  
"Rocket,*sigh*, how am I going to tell them?" I said as I cradled him as if he were Starlight or Bumblebee. I looked away from him and let tears roll down my cheeks.  
I wiped the tears away and picked him up and carried him back to the base and proceeded to the dead room. This would be the room where Coraline, Raindown, Hot Shot, the sparklings, and I would say good bye to him before being melted down. Even if his processor was practily gone, some of the information he had, 'cons could use it.

When I set him on the table I couldn't help but go through my memory banks. I went back to when we were kids, we would always lay by each other at night when our parents were too busy and had us stay at their office. We would talk about nothing until we fell asleep. As I walked out and back to our bunkers I found another memory that almost put me over the edge again. It was when we were five stellar cycles old and we had put clear oil on the floor of the base. We had laughed at everyone that fell until my Sire was the bot that fell. We had to clean the whole base for a month.  
When I got to Rocket's bunker I could hear the three of them laughing and running around, so much for trying to settle them down for the night. I opened the door and saw Bee and Star crawling around and making noises like a plane.  
"Hot Shot," I said looking at the floor. "Where is your creator?"


	11. Chapter 11

"Sorry what sir?" Hot Shot said stopping and picking up the two sparklings.  
"Where is your creator?" I asked again still not giving any optic contact. I wasn't sure if I could hold together if I did.  
"Not home yet. Why is something wrong?" he said walking up to me and handing me a giggling Starlight. That's where I noticed that Raindown wasn't home yet either. She was usually home first and feeding Starlight.  
"Sir, Optimus!" I heard some one call from the hall. "Sir…we…we need to talk. Y…you too Hot Shot." Ratchet gasped for air once he reached us. But something was off. Ratchet was in charge of helping the injured or get the off lined to the morgue where bots would say goodbye after a battle. So why was he here?  
"No…" I said realizing what was happening. "Hot Shot…c…come on." I hoped I was wrong about this terrable feeling.  
"But what about…" Hot Shot started.  
"Arcee is on her way to spark sit." Ratchet interrupted and lightly pushed him forward. As he said that, the pink femmie ran down the hall and smiled softly.

Starlight clicked and reached for me from Arcee's arms confused by why I was leaving and who this strange new femme was.  
"Sorry sweet spark, I'll be back." I sighed kissing her helm before leaving with Ratchet and Hot Shot.  
We where walking towards the morgue when it finally hit Hot Shot that some thing was seriously wrong.  
"No…no, Optimus please no!" He said grabbing my arm. "Not this, no!" The poor youngling looked like he was about to lose it.  
"Hot Shot I'm so sorry about your Sire." I sighed feeling tears come once more. "I…it was Megatron."  
"NO IT'S NOT TRUE!" He said running forward and ahead of us. "YOU"RE LYING!"  
I was still wondering why I was called down. Was it because of Rocket or…no where is it ? My ring…it's gone. But the rings only came off when…  
"Raindown!" I whispered.  
I ran after the poor mech into the room and found over one hundred fallen comrades, three of which we knew personally.  
"NO!" Hot Shot cried knelling in-between the two beds that held his parents.  
"No…Raindown…NO!" I cried knelling by my bonded. She was the worst of the three. She looked as if a bomb had fallen right on to her and Coraline looked like she'd been with her for she had the same burn marks.  
'Why Raindown? How?' I thought taking her servo and holding it up to my forehead as I cried. 'Who love, who did this?' I put her hand back over her chest and noticed something in her broken hand. Her ring. The one I'd given her when we bonded. The one that would only fall off when one died.  
I couldn't hold it any longer and cried along side Hot Shot. I cried for all three but more for the future of our sparklings. I cried for all those that were lost and for those that lost someone. A lover, a bonded , a son, a daughter, a Sire or Creator, or maybe some combination of them, all by the hand of my brother. I swore then and there I would bring him down and stop this madness once and for all.


	12. Chapter 12

I held her in my arms one last time squeezing her in a tight embrace not wanting to ever let go. I kissed her forehead and had to lay her back down so I wouldn't damage any useful parts she still had for Ratchet to use. Once I put her arms across her chest, I turned away and pulled the distort youngling to my right into my arms.  
"Why…" He whispered tears still flowing down his face. "Why did this happen? Why did they leave me?"  
"Don't blame them Hot Shot…it's the fraggin' 'cons fault." I said starting to cry again. I held him close to me as he continued to cry loudly. I was angry that his parents had been taken away. I was angry that Raindown had been taken.  
We sat like that until Ratchet came in and told us that he needed some spare parts and didn't want us to know that some might come for our loved ones. We had no choice but to leave and mourn them another time.  
"No! Please!" Hot Shot cried not wanting to leave. "Please don't!" It was hard for him to understand, but do to the war parts were in short supply.  
"Shhh… Hot Shot please stay calm." I said but he pushed me away and continued on.  
"Optimus I need you to hold him." Ratchet called over Hot Shot's cries. "I need to sedate him."  
I took his hands and held them behind his back but he continued to struggle and I was loosing my grip. He was stronger than he looked. Luckily Ratchet got the shot into his arm before he completely escaped and was down with in a few clicks.  
"Go on now." Ratchet said as I picked up Hot Shot. "And don't leave Hot Shot alone with Bumblebee tonight."  
"I won't. I wasn't planning on it any way." I said giving him my best smile I could before walking out the door.

"Kids are asleep." Arcee said helping me lay Hot Shot on my bed. "Prime, I'm so sorry about Raindown. If you ever need anything I'm just a few doors down."  
"Thank you Arcee. We'll be fine." I said not really sure if we truly would be.  
After she left I went over to see the sparklings who where cuddled together peacefully sleeping. Bee had his arms around Starlight's arm and she was sucking her thumb and twitching her foot every so often just like her creator use to do. They'd grown at least a foot in the last week and it just reminded me how much Raindown was going to miss. I hope they will always be friends and not split like Megatron and I did.  
I stroked Starlight's cheek and she stretched a little causing Bumblebee to squeak in his sleep. I smiled and stroked his helm relaxing him and lolling him back into recharge.  
I turned around and looked at Hot Shot who was in a restless fit. I knew if Ratchet hadn't given him that sedative he'd be a wake and throwing a fit instead of sleeping in a fit. I knew I should have asked Ratchet for something to help me sleep but I didn't and I really wanted to stay up and watch everyone to make sure they would be safe. As I though of this while stroking Hot Shot's helm I decided that he and Bee would live with us until Hot Shot was old enough to care for his brother. Even if Hot Shot didn't want to.


	13. Chapter 13

I didn't sleep that night. I was too concerned about Hot Shot and I didn't want to take my optics off of him. In my boredom I started to watch my sparkling as she and Bumblebee kicked and wiggled around. I wondered if they knew or felt their parents sparks go out. I sighed and sat on the edge of her berth watching her, hoping she wouldn't feel the pain of her creators spark going out like I did. I knew of the conection between sparklings and their parents and how some could feel their pain. I know I could feel Starlit's feelings at times in my spark.  
Starlight cooed in her sleep and Bee rolled over and put his hand over her face. It was the cutest thing and it reminded me I had to raise them on my own. I was alone to raise these two sparklings, Hot Shot and be the leader of the Autobots. I started to worry I couldn't do both.  
I worried Starlight would have to go into foster care all because of my job. Then I remembered all the help I had around me. Jazz would be more than happy to spark-sit on his time off and if he couldn't Arcee could do it. Both bots loved sparkings. Prowl would help tech them tactics when they got older and Ironhide or I could help with weapons training. I had more bots then I could count that could help me when and if I needed them.

I watched my younglings sleep a little longer. I stroked my Starlight's cheek making her click and causing bumblebee to squawk in his sleep. He relaxed and wrapped his arms back around her and Starlight cuddled up to him. I chuckled.  
I hoped that Hot Shot would get better and be able to take care of Bumblebee. I was only their care taker until he turned fifteen then I had no say over him or his younger brother unless he gave Bee up. Though I hoped they would stay together and be a true family.

The first to wake up was my little sparkling. She yawned and slowly sat up, rubbing her pretty green optics that mimicked her creators. Primus she looked so much like Raindown. I wondered if she'd have her light green armor or if she's have my red.  
"Sire?" She said in a groggy voice as she looked at me with dim, tired optics.  
"Hey Starry," I said getting up and picked her up off her birth. "How're you doing little one?" she looked at me with a confused look and chirped at me.  
"Does not compute." She said.  
"What?" I whispered from the shock of her saying this. They weren't supposed to say that for…two more months! She was only five mounths! Then again they weren't supposed to start talk until six months, but here we are.  
Bumblebee woke up not long after this and clicked up at me and held his hands up wanting to be held too. While I held the two groggy sparklings I talked to them telling them that Hot Shot and Bee would be living here with us. They instantly where wide awake and looking at me with big smiles and bright optics. Their happy clicks, squeals and chirps woke up a very grumpy Hot Shot.  
"Ow…my head…" He wined. "What happened…where…where am I?"  
"Hot Shot!" The two sparklings cried in unison and tried to wiggle out of my arms. Before they could, I got a better hold on them and brought them over to my berth where Hot Shot had been sleeping.  
"Where creator?" Bumblebee asked his brother as I handed him over. Hot Shot looked at me hoping I would have the answer. I thought for a moment but decided the truth would be best.  
"Starlight, Bumblebee, we need to talk to you about something ok?" I sighed and cuddled my daughter closer to my chest as tears started to come to my optics once more. I held them back best I could. "Your creators are…they aren't coming back. Neither is your Sire Bee." Both sparklings looked at me and chirped questionably.  
"They…went to the Well of Allsparks." I sobbed letting the tears come down. "They're...offline sweet sparks." Both looked scared and confused; they cuddled closer to us and started to cry, small sobs coming from our chassis.  
"Shhh…its ok." Hot Shot said shakily holding Bee closer. "Megatron will pay for this…"  
"Hot Shot, now's not the time for this. Besides you know revenge isn't the answer, it only leads to more death and destruction which is not what we need."  
"But sir…"  
"No!" I shouted startling all three of them and creating an awkward silence. "Look…I didn't mean to yell but I've seen what it can do. It's not the answer, it's the reason we're in this pit for shaken war in the first place. Please…"  
"Who Megatwan?" Starlight asked patting my arm.  
"He's my…" I wanted to tell her he was my brother but that might confuse her. "Our enemy. He isn't a nice mech and is the one who hurt your creator and Hot Shot and Bee's parents." She started crying once more but this time Bumblebee reached out and patted her arm gently.  
"Sir…where…" Hot Shot started but I cut him off by taking hold of his hand.  
"Don't call me sir right now Hot Shot. You can call me Sire if you like but if you'd rather, call me Optimus. And as for where you will stay, I have two more berths on the way to be fitted into this bunker."  
He smiled and wrapped his free arm around me, silently thanking me for every thing.


	14. Chapter 14

Five stellar cycles. It has been five stellar cycles now since my little Starlight was born. She's grown into quite the spunky little femmie, very similar to how her creator was when she was he age. Her coloring was similar to her creators as well, aquamarine, though she had the same color of blue as me for her trim. Bumblebee had also grown quite a bit. His coloring was yellow and black. I wasn't quite sure where those colors came from seeing as Rocket was orange and red and Coraline was yellow and lime green. Starlight was now tall enough to peer over my desk that came up to my waist while little Bee could just barley peer over it if he stood on the tip of his peds. I wonder if he will always be shorter.  
Both of them were inseparable still but had become quite the pranksters. She and Bumblebee are currently in the corner of my new office for playing a prank that caused our new tactician Prowl's processor to lock up. Neither one of them where to look away from the corner of the wall until I could come up with a good punishment.  
"Sire I'm sorry, I didn't think it would make him lock up." Starlight said sadly. I knew she truly was but she still had to be punished.  
"Jazz said it was funny." Bumblebee mumbled. I glared down at the young mech. Of course Jazz did, at least up until Prowl locked up.  
"Be glade I'm the one giving you the punishment and not Ratchet." I watched as both of them stiffened and cringed at the thought. The medics temper wasn't one to mess with.  
"So…what do we have to do?" Starlight asked.  
"Well you're going to have to help by taking over Prowl's tasks for a while." I sighed. "And that doesn't mean you get to go out into the battle field." Both whined at that. Now that they were older, they wanted desperately to help out with the war effort. I was of course saddened by this but what choice was there? One day they would go out into the field and it would be out of my control. "The three of you will be gathering reports and writing a few as well."  
"Three?" both bots asked.  
"Tha's right. You two an' me." Jazz said from my offices door way. "We'll be gettin' Prowler's reports for 'im and doing a few, well the ones that we can any way." He shrugged.  
Both young bots seemed to enjoy the fact that they were going to hang out with Jazz for the day but I had told him repeatedly that this wasn't supposed to be fun. I knew thought that Jazz would try to disobey and do it anyway.  
"You two may move now." I said as I stood up from my desk. "Jazz, here's the list of bots you need to meet and reports you need." I handed him the data pad. "Have fun."

Starlight's view:  
Bee and I followed Jazz down the long halls of the base. This place apparently had gotten a lot bigger. Sire told it was just a small bunker not too long ago, but now it's practically a small city. At the center of the base is all off the living quarters while the outside was all of the military type things. Honestly I never really quite understood everything that went on.  
"Hey Ratchet." I froze at the name and looked up to see Jazz was talking to the red and white mech. Ratchet looked mad, though that was usual.  
"The frac to you want Jazz? I'm busy trying to wake Prowl up." He yelled.  
"Ay just need the reports…"  
"You'll get the reports when you get them now scram!" Ratchet turned and left. No wonder everyone was scared of Ratchet.  
"'Ight so…next is Black Sunshine on the gun inventory." Jazz said to himself. Bumblebee and I looked at each other. We hated Black and really didn't want to see him. Who knows what he would do to us.  
"Jazz, do we have to?" I asked. "He…doesn't seem to like us."  
"He doesn't like anyone. Don't worry, I got cha." Jazz smiled. I smiled back. I trusted Jazz but I wasn't going to turn my back on Black.  
"Knock knock." Jazz said cheerfully as he knocked on the door to the armory. I could never understand or figure out why he was so cheerful but I liked him for it. The door made a clicking noise and a hissing sound as it opened to revile a huge darkly colored mech with red optics.  
"What?" Black said gruffly. How was he not a 'Con?  
"Hey, got those inventory reports?" Jazz asked. Though I noticed Black Sunshine wasn't looking at Jazz but at us. I moved closer to Jazz as did Bee.  
"You sure you want those with these two around?" Black growled. I shifted uncomfortably under his gaze and felt Bee shiver slightly.  
"OP's orders. They're my shadows for the day. So, got'em?" Jazz said, blowing off his obvious annoy-meant of us.  
"Tsk…" he stepped back into the room to retrieve the reports. Bee and I peeked in to see rows upon rows of guns, ammo and other strange weapons.  
"Wow…" we both said in amazement.  
"Cool huh? Maybe one day one o' you two will run the weapons depot huh?" Jazz smiled.  
"Quite you gocking! Here's you slagging report." Black growled and shoved the report into Jazz's chest plate. He then slammed the door.  
"Well…that covers that…" Jazz sighed. "Moving on!"


	15. Chapter 15

Since that day that we shadowed Jazz, I now knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to be…ok I lied I don't know what I want to be but I do want to help with the war effort. Maybe a fighter like Hot Shot, or a spy like Prowl and Jazz or maybe someday I would be leader of the autobots!  
"Starlight!" Ratchet called from the front of the large class room, making me and Bee, who was next to me, jump. Oh, did I mention all young bots where called in into this room for a special presentation? The room had two to a table, three rows wide and at least seven rows long. Bee and I had chosen to sit together smack in the middle of the room. Why we did this, who knows because now all optics were on us. I also noted that Hot Shot was here as well but to the left and further back and sitting with a mech I was unfamiliar with. He was Hot Shot's friend, Wheel...something. No idea what we were here for yet though, Ratchet kept going on and on about medical stuff. One thing for sure, I didn't want to be a medi-bot. "Are you even listening?!" The red mech glared.  
"Of course I am!" I crossed my arms over my chest plate. He just rolled his optics and mumbled something about stupid young bots. "Now, as I was saying, does anyone know how Sparklings are made?" everyone immediately looked up at Ratchet with wide optics. Oh Primus…this is about interfacing. Not a good time to be sitting by your best mech friend.  
"No one? Why does that not surprise me…" he said as he pinched the bridge of his nose as a screen started to come down behind him. "Red Alert! Lights!" he called to the back of the room and the lights went down. I'd heard Red Alert was going to be made second in command for the medical bots but right now was under Ratchet's wing as an assistant. Poor bot. Once the lights were out, the projector from the ceiling started up and a really old movie started playing. The title came up and my spark sank, Interfacing: What you should know. I saw Bumblebee sink lower into his chair and I let my helm fall to my desk.  
The video showed everything…and I meant everything. From the process of interfacing (of course it wasn't actually showing real bots), the process that goes on inside the pod and of course the birthing process. I felt like purging my tanks all over the table. Once it was over the screen went up and the lights went back on. I looked around and saw I wasn't the only one grossed out and a bit confused. I also noticed that unlike Bee and I, most bots were sitting next to someone of the same interfacing parts. Femmies with femmies, mechs with mechs. Oops.  
"Now, by the looks on all of your face plates you seem confused." Ratchet said as he rummaged under the desk up front and pulled out a few things. One looked like a giant tube with wires, an awkward cod piece and a few other things that I didn't know what they were. "Now then, this," he said putting a hand on the tube thingy. "Is a pod. Anyone know what it does?" Silence. "Ugh…a pod is where a sparkling grows. The process you just saw!?" he seemed angry but soon clamed down a bit. "Now, when a mech and femme interface, a small chip is created within the femme. That chip is taken out and placed into the pod. In the pod, there is a tiny protoform in which the chip is put into. The pod is placed into a femme's lower abdominal plating to keep it safe. The protoform will start to take in all of these wires and from a healthy sparkling." He said as he demonstrated a bit. "Every pod is specially made by experienced medical bots, like myself. So, if any 'bot does want to have a sparkling, they need to let me know so the chip has a place to go and doesn't die." He finished up.  
I got it now but what were the other things? I didn't dare ask.  
"Now this," he said holding up the weird cod piece. "Is a condom." Oh Primus… "A mech will wear it on his spike so as to not impregnate a femme." Ratchet said as he set it down. I wanted to just die right there, I could tell Bee did too. He went over a few other things like the femme condom and some kind of birth control stuff but I wasn't able to focus. I was embarrassed and mortified. Couldn't he have at least have mechs and femmies in two different rooms?! Oh well…  
"…And that is all. Any questions come talk to me at the medical bay or Red Alert." He said and everybody got up and left as one big mass group.

Bumblebee and I walked awkwardly back to our apartment. Neither of us said anything to one another, even after we walked in and sat on our beds in our shared room.  
"So…" Bumblebee said while looking up at the ceiling. "Want to play tag?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow at him. "What? It's not like anything is going to change between us right? So why worry about…that stuff? For pit sake we're only nine stellarcycles! We have plenty of stellarcycles left before we can or even want to do that." He smiled his big goofy grin. He had a point…  
"Yeah…you're right." I said as I sneakily grabbed my pillow. "We're just sparklings after all." I smirked.  
"Sparklings?! I'm so not a Spark…oof!" I hit him in the helm with the pillow while he was distracted. "No fair!" he called but I was already out of the room and in the living space, laughing all the way. I turned back to see he had his pillow in his hand. I caught him off guard and hit him in the chase, but that gave him an opening to hit me in the helm. We both laughed and continued our little play fight until the door opened. We stopped and looked to see who it was.  
"Hey! Who said you could have fun without me!?" Hot Shot smirked as he walked in. Both Bee and I smiled and attacked him. Who cares about what happens in the future? Bee's right, we should live for the now!


	16. Chapter 16

I looked out of my window that over looked our city. Over the last few years we were able to take over Iacon and made it our main base, a safe haven for Autobots and civilians that had been caught up in the war. We lost many good bots in the fight but in the end, Megatron's cronies gave up. One of the bots we lost was one of Hot Shot's good friends, Surefire. I knew him well…but I digress.  
I watched the bright lights of the city from up above in my office. I was happy that we finally had room to spread out and were no longer piled on top of one another like we had been back in the underground bunkers. Finally my people had a true home. But I knew that this wasn't perfect. We are never truly safe, not in this time of war; not with my brother hiding in the shadows and waiting to strike.  
My thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked at my door. "Come in." I said, never looking away from the quiet city below.  
"Sire?" Starlight said as she poked her head in the door way. "Are you ok?" she asked.  
She'd grown quite a bit in the past two stellar cycles. She was now up to my chest plate and was looking more like her Creator everyday. Her colors were a light greenish blue now (I'm guessing the blue from my plating had come through a bit) with blue that matched mine on her knees, the middle of her chest plate and the side of her legs. Her helm was just like her Creators as well. It was rounded out but she had my audio receptor shape. She was also had become less boxy and rounding out into more of a feminine body. My little spark was growing up far to fast.  
"I'm fine." I said and turned around to look into her bright green optics. I smiled at her to try and reassure her but it didn't work. Her brows furrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest.  
"Sire, you've been in here for groons! You didn't even come home for lunch!" she pouted. "And its midnight…you should have been home cycles ago!"  
I looked up at the clock and saw that it was indeed late, very late. "I'm sorry little spark. I didn't mean to be so late or to make you worry."  
"You're going to work yourself to death…" she mumbled, most likely she didn't want me to hear her but I did.  
"Starlight, I promise you that won't happen." It was far more likely that Megatron would be my undoing but I would never tell her that. I walked around my desk and put my hand on her shoulder. "I promise I'll stop working so late if you promise to not worry so much." I smiled.  
"Fine…and you have to promise to be there tomorrow when I pick out my alternate form!" she beamed. Slag I had almost forgotten that! She was eleven stellar cycles now and was old enough to transform.  
"Right, I promise." I hoped to Primus the meeting I had planned ended in time.

Starlight's view:  
I was practically jumping off the walls with excitement! Today was the day Bumblebee and I got out alt. forms! Course we had to listen to Ratchet go on and on about the hazards of everything. From spin outs, to running out of energon, blowing a tire, bla bla bla…who cares! I wanted to transform and drive around instead of having to walk everywhere! I looked over to Bee and leaned over and whispered into his audio. "Are you excited as I am?"  
"Yeah!" he grinned. "What form are you going to choose?"  
"I don't know…maybe…something like my Sire?"  
"Will you two be quiet?" Ratchet yelled. "Every time I have the both of you in a class…" he trailed off. Bee and I had to stifle our laughs.

Finally we were allowed to go into the room in which we could get out alternate forms imprinted on us. Bee and I were the last two in line; a punishment Ratchet thought was fitting. This did however affect his system of having everyone go alphabetically which pissed him off but that was his own fault. Also it let us have more of a chance to think of what we wanted.  
"Bumblebee!" Ratchet called. He gulped and stepped forward. Once he chose, it would be his alt. form for the rest of his life.  
He stepped in and the doors closed. It only took a few moments before I heard the other side open. I couldn't see him due to there being no windows seeing out to the track, so I'd had to wait till it was my turn to see him.  
"You're up kid." Ratchet said. Now it was my turn to be so nervous that my tanks felt like purging. I stepped up and walked into the machine and looked around. There was a screen to choose your form and a scanner to scan you and imprint the one you want. I quickly scanned through the models I had to choose from, being carful not to over look anything. I looked through so many that I felt like my optics where going to fall out until finally I found the one. Something about it felt familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. It almost looked like Jazz's alt but the front bumper had a point and this form had a spoiler on the rear. It was also a bit smaller and more...femmie I guess. I hit that one and stood under the scanner. I saw a bright light and felt a tingling through out my body. I don't know when I closed my optics but when I opened them, I was facing the race track where all new bots who just learned got their alts tested out their new wheels.  
"Star!" I heard a voice call out. I looked around but only saw a small round yellow and black car zooming towards me. "Wooh…!" he said before slamming on his breaks and stopping just mechanometers away from me. "Sorry…" he transformed and gave me a goofy grin. He looked so cool! Even his door wings had changed a bit.  
"Bee?! Primus I didn't recognize you!" I laughed. "You look…"  
"Different?" he tilted his helm to the side.  
"Stupid!" I teased. He pouted and punched me in the arm. "So…how does it work?" I asked.  
"I'll show you!" he stood proudly in front of me and yelled. "Transform!" he immediately changed into his alt mode and revved his engine. "Easy!"  
I laughed and tried it myself. "Transform!" I called out and changed into my own alt form. Everything seemed the same but I just felt smaller. "Wow!" I revved my own engine and moved forward just a bit. "This is cool!" I said and took off. "WOOOHOOOO!" I was so excited that I forgot to ask how to stop but I quickly figured out how to do it before hitting the first obstacle.

After about five or six laps Bee and I had almost gotten used to it. Sure a few cones where down but that wasn't all us. There were at least five others out with us. But I had noticed one thing while Beee and I where driving around, my Sire wasn't here…  
"Star! Race ya!" Bee called out from behind me and quickly sped up to pass me.  
"Ha! You can't beat me!" I laughed and sped up. For a long time we where right next to each other, it seemed that neither of us where faster than the other, at least for now. We where so focused that we didn't notice a black tank looking car was coming up behind us and fast. It wasn't until they hit Bee in the bumper.  
"Gahh! Hey!" Bee cried out as he swerved to avoid me. "W-watch it! What's wrong with you are you trying to do, kill us?" he said as the black car pulled up and went passed us.  
"What was that about?" I asked.  
"No idea but…LOOK OUT!" Bee and I slammed on our breaks to avoid the same black car that was now blocking out path by parking himself across the track. "What is you problem!?"  
"Just wanted to test your skills little ones…" a deep voice chuckled. That voice…oh no not him!  
"B-b-b…Black Sunshine…" I stuttered and backed up a little. He laughed and revved up.  
"Let's play a little game!" Black Sunshine hit the gas and started coming at us forcing us to reverse and drive backwards. This was way harder than Sire made it look!  
I noticed that there was a little bit of room on either side of Black. "Bee, left side!" I called out as I went back into drive and swerved to the opening to his right. I saw Bee in my review mirror that he took my advice and went to his left. I also saw Black hit the breaks, turn and was coming straight at us again. "Bumblebee punch it!" I called. We speed up but there wasn't really anywhere to go. All we could do was drive in a circle and it wouldn't be long until Black figured out a way to cut us off again and hit us. I had also noticed that everyone else seemed to be off the track. They must have seen Black before we did.  
"Starlight! What are we going to do?!" Bee called as he caught up to me. I didn't have an answer so I kept quiet for a minute. I didn't have as long as I thought because I was rammed and forced right into Bee.  
We both screamed and we hit the wall and were dragged against it until Black pulled away. I skidded to a stop and tried to transform. It hurt like living pit but I had too. "Bee!" I ran to him as fast as I could. He had gotten the worst off it and was looking pretty bad. Luckily before I reached him he transformed and knelt by the wall.  
"I-I'm ok…" he said but his joints were sparking and his armor was scratched and bent in ways and places it shouldn't be. His left door wing was bent up and twisted in the opposite direction and his right leg was hurt pretty bad. I heard a transforming sound behind me and quickly turned.  
"Poor little bots. Can't even figure out how to break away before someone pushes you into a wall." Black Sunshine laughed darkly. I backed away but made sure to stay between him and Bee. "Awww, protecting your friend? How cute." He spat. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you…much. Maybe just rearrange a few parts and make those pretty little face not so pretty!" he raised his fist to hit me. I put my arms out to block him. I was too scared that once more I didn't hear a car approaching. It wasn't until said car transformed and took Black out did I notice anyone else was around.  
"Stay down!" I heard my Sire growl right before the sound of metal hitting metal resounded through out the track hit my audios. "Starlight, are you alright?" he said running up to me and putting his hands on my shoulders. I nodded, not able to find any words. He pulled me into a hug and I instantly hugged him back. I didn't know I was shaking until now. "Star…my sparkling; I'm so sorry I'm late."


	17. Chapter 17

I paced the medical bays halls for what seemed like hours before I got any news on the damage done to Bumblebee and Starlight. They were going to be fine, it was just going to take sometime to dislodge their tires from their arm joints. I was more concerned about what I was going to do with Sunshine. I had him locked up in the cells, but I couldn't release him and strip him of his position only because of what it was that he was really guarding. Yes he was in charge of weapons but he was also the guardian of the All Spark. Currently it was locked up in a vault and the only ones who new the codes where him and me. I sighed and ran my hand over my face and helm. I was in quite a predicament. I though back to my conversation with Black.

I walked down the dim lit halls of the jail cells that were all empty save for one. Black Sunshine met my optics with his own dim red ones. Something was different about him. Ever since Bumblebee and Starlight were sparked he seemed distant and full of rage but he had apologized for his crimes against them before. This time, the look he gave me had no remorse in it what so ever. It was cold and full of spite.  
"Come to punish me Prime?" He hissed. If I didn't know better I would have thought he was a Decipticon.  
"You're giving me little choice Black. I had hoped that like last time you would be remorseful but I can see other wise." I looked towards my peds and sighed. "I have but one option and I don't want to do it."  
Black Sunshine chuckled darkly. "It's because you're weak!" He growled and lunged towards the bars. When his hands hit an electrical shock sent him stumbling back.  
"You're memory shall be wiped and you will be left outside of Iacon. I'm sorry my old friend, but this is the choice I have made." After his outburst I no longer felt bad for what had to happen.  
"You wouldn't do that Prime...Prime! Come back here! I'm not done with you! PRIME!" He called after me as I left. As the door closed, I heard him punch the wall in rage.

"Optimus, wake up. PRIME!" Ratchet yelled as he shook my arm.  
I opened my optics and looked up at the exhausted medi-bot.  
"Sorry..." I said as I stretched. I had fallen asleep in the waiting area after my talk with Black Sunshine.  
"Oi...you could have gone home and I would have sent Star and Bee home with Hot Shot." Ratchet glared at me. "I told you to get more rest any way. Why are you still here?! They won't be released from my care until tomorrow any way."  
"I needed to talk to you about Sunshine. I want you to do a memory wipe on him." I was prepared for an outburst about how dangerous that was but instead I got an exasperated sigh.  
"I knew he was trouble from day one..." He sighed again. "You know the dangers of it. He could die during the process or not all of his memories will be erased. I hope it's the first one to be honest." The old red and white bot chuckled humorlessly. "Are you sure about this Optimus?"  
I nodded. "It's the only way. I can't hold him in the cells forever with the information he holds in his processor. It's too dangerous. If nothing else, erase that and the location of our base if you can." I didn't care if he remembered names as long as he couldn't give away our location and the codes to the All Spark.  
"Understood. He'll be first priority in the morning. I'll get Jazz and Hot Shot to help me hold him. Until then you are ordered to go home and rest!" He said as he lifted me out of the chair with my left servo and lightly pushed me towards the hall. "I got this covered." He smiled.

I was awoken by a loud siren and a blinding red light. The alarms! I got up and ran out the door. All I could think of was going to the medical bay and making sure nothing had happened to Starlight or Bumblebee. My instinct to protect my sparklings was what led me to the scene of the crime. There was a creator in the floor of the medical bay and four bots lying on the floor. All four were fine just shingled. I quickly ran over and helped the oldest of the bots up.  
"Ratchet, what happened?" I asked as I helped him sit up. Hot Shot, Jazz and Red Alert were getting up by this point.  
"I-it's Black Sunshine...he's escaped sir." the old mech said as he rubbed the side of his helm. "We were about to wipe his processor when he broke the restraints. He aimed his cannon at me but Jazz pushed his arm down and made the resulting creator. He must have run off while we were out."  
I balled my hands into fists and glared out the door. "Jazz, Hot Shot, with me. Ratchet and Red Alert, make sure all young bots are out of harms way." I said as I leapt up and ran towards the weapons depot. I knew what he was going after and I had to stop him.

The second Hot Shot, Jazz and I walked into the room we were under fire. I didn't choose Black Sunshine just because he was good with guns; he was also an excellent taction and could make attack plans up on the spot. He was second best to Prowl.  
"Give it up Prime! You can never stop me!" sadly he was right. I'd need more than a saber and a rookie warrior to take him down. All I needed to do was take down the control panel to the All Spark though and that would stop him for now.  
I looked at Hot Shot and Jazz and motioned towards the panel. Both of them nodded, grabbed a gun off of the closest shelf and drew Black's fire towards them while I took aim at the panel. Disabling the panel would put the whole room on lock down, sealing the doors and windows from the inside but it was all we had.  
I took aim and hit the panel dead on. The alarms went off along with flashing orange lights as the metal doors started to close. Black Sunshine growled, aimed and shot towards Hot Shot. I moved and blocked the fatal shot with my body and ended up with a shot to the shoulder joint. It was better than Hot Shot taking it in the spark.  
I turned to fire back but as I aimed Black Sunshine leapt through the small opening left between the metal door and the window, breaking the glass and falling towards the ground. Last I saw of him was him transforming in mid air, landing hard on the ground and driving off in the direction of the Decipticon base.

The whole meeting room was a blaze with questions as to why we didn't stop him. There was no way we could have even though I wanted to.  
"Everyone shut up!" Ratchet's voice boomed over the noisy crowd. Everyone fell silent. No one messed with the old medi-bot.  
"Er...thank you Ratchet. As I was saying there were only three of us. We tried to trap him in the weapons room but he still managed to escape. We must find him before he reaches the enemies base." I looked over the crowd and saw all of their worried optics. "We can stop him; we just have to work together to find him." The one set of optics that I focused on where the only pair of emerald green in the far back of the room. Starlight looked scared but she had a fire burning in her optics. She wanted revenge and at that moment she reminded me so much of her Creator. "I promise all of you, he will not get away with this unharmed."


	18. Chapter 18

I sat in front of the window of my Sire's office, head in my servo and watched the city below. I was waiting for my Sire to come back from a scouting mission. Hot Shot had picked up a signal from a possible Decepticon base. I wanted to go too but Sire said I was too young and this mission was too dangerous. I sighed and let my forehelm hit the glass. I was mad that he didn't let Bee or me go but more than that I was worried about what could happen. It had been weeks since Black Sunshine had escaped and we all knew he would give our location away along with secrets of how to get into the city.  
"Hello? Cybertron to Star!" Bee said waving his hand in my sight line.  
"Huh?!"I blinked and looked up at him, "Sorry, what did you say?  
Bee sighed and rolled his optics. "I was saying that I logged into your Sire's computer." He smirked.  
I glared. "Bee, you could get into a lot of trouble!" I wasn't really mad at him but all computers were monitored by none other than Prowl. He was a stickler for following the rules and his punishments were awful.  
"Yeah, yeah…" he said as he turned back to the computer.  
"What are you doing on there anyway? And how did you figure out the password so fast?" I was curious since even I couldn't get it. I had tried everything.  
Bee held up a flash drive. "Let's just say I had some help." I could tell he was smiling. That flash drive looked familiar. "I know what you're thinking. I shouldn't have taken it from Hoist but…"  
"You took it from Hoist?!" I interrupted. "Bumblebee, do you have some kind of death wish?" Hoist was a nice guy, he mostly did maintenance stuff so it wasn't surprising that he had a flash drive with a password hack on it, but to take something from him was a huge mistake.  
"Oh come on! Live a little Star! It's all for fun."  
"Fun? What's so fun about hacking a computer and getting caught?" I kept looking up at the door, expecting Prowl or even Hoist to show up.  
"Relax, no one is coming in here. And he left it on the table at lunch today so I snagged it. I'll give it back." Bee tried to reason.  
"Whatever…what are you looking for anyway?" I asked him again.  
"For this." He moved to the side so I could see. It was the location of where my Sire and his team went. "See, fun right?"  
I couldn't believe it. I'd been working on figuring out where they went for hours and here Bumblebee was doing it like it was nothing. "I hate you sometimes…" I teased. He grinned and motioned for me to come take a look.  
"That's not far from here. Like fifteen klicks from here?" I said as I got a bit closer to the screen. "Wait…there's two dots now?" The one Sire was going too was the one on the left of the screen and much farther away. The new one was off to the right and much closer, maybe five klicks.  
"I know, the one that's close wasn't detected until I told the computer to scan again." Bee said in a weirdly calm and quiet voice. I could tell he was scared but also slightly excited.  
"What are you planning?" I looked at him from the corner of my optics. He quickly stood up and pulled the flash drive out, shutting down the computer instantly.  
"We should check it out!" he said, walking towards the door.  
"Woh, what?" I caught his arm, forcing him to stop walking. "Are you crazy? What if…"  
"What if what Starlight?" He turned to me and gave me a look I had never seen before. "If they get here everyone is in danger. If we go and investigate a lot of lives could be saved." He wasn't wrong.  
"Ok…but we'll have to find some other bots to help." There was no way Bee and I could take on more than one Decepticon. We haven't even started weapons training yet for spark sake.  
"No, we should keep this low key." I couldn't believe what he just said. "Listen Star, if we alert the base, all of Iacon will be alerted. If that happens the Decepticons could run off or worst, attack everyone. Honestly though, this doesn't look like a real attack. They're this close and haven't attacked the wall? It's probably a false reading."  
He had a point, but he was also being stupid about it. "Fine, we'll do a quick check. But we shouldn't go alone. We should tell Jazz at least." Jazz was normally cool about taking us on small missions just outside of Iacon city. Of course he always asked us to keep it on the down low. If Sire found out, I'd be locked away in a tower for the rest of my life to keep me 'safe'  
"Fine, we'll tell Jazz what we found…" Bee sighed. I let his arm go and stood by him. "Come on!" he said, running out the door. I sighed and followed him.

Bumblebee decided we should hit the weapons depot before going. Since Blacksunshine's attempt to kill everyone, Ironhide had taken over. He was nicer than Sunshine but he was also much stricter.  
"Are you sure we can get in?" I asked.  
"Yeah, Ironhide is with Prime on the mission. It'll be easy!" he grinned. We turned the corner and saw that it was in fact clear. No one was in front of the door guarding it and the office Ironhide had across from the weapons room was closed. "Come on!" Bee tugged my arm and led the way. He pulled out the flash drive again and plugged it into the side of the security scanner.  
"It works on doors too?" I watched as numbers on the screen spun about until they turned into the right code and unlocked the door. We looked at each other for a nano click, both surprised it had worked. It answered my question but why was there a drive like this just lying around? If it fell into the wrong hands, we'd have some trouble.  
Bee pushed the door open and looked inside to make sure no one was in there. "Clear." He whispered as he stepped in.  
"Bee, shouldn't we have gotten Jazz first?" I said as I entered and shut the door behind me.  
"We will don't worry." He brushed me off and started looking for what we needed. We hadn't had our weapons upgrades so we would have to carry our guns instead on transforming our servos into them. I picked up an energon blaster and Bee took a plasma cannon.  
"Ok, we got our weapons let's go get…" I was cut off by Bee running past me and through the door. "Bumblebee!?" I ran after him. He wasn't stopping and he wasn't going to get Jazz.  
I chased him all the way outside and almost caught up to him when he transformed and drove off. I groaned and transformed and chased after him once more. Eventually I caught up. "Ok, genius, how are we going to get through the gate at the wall? Oh, and the guards?" I scolded him.  
"We go the back way!" he said and took a sharp turn to the right.  
"Wah…Bee! This is stupid!" I wanted to go back so baldy but I couldn't leave the yellow mech on his own.

Optimus Primes View:  
Ironhide, Hot Shot, Springer and I were all looking for where this base or whatever it could be. We were right on top of the signal according to Hot Shot's tracking device.  
"Sir!" Springer called out. I turned to see him holding up a small device with a red blinking light on it. "I think this is where the signal is coming from."  
"It's a decoy." Ironhide growled.  
"So where's the real one?" I mumbled.  
"Prime! There's a new reading ten klicks from here!" Hot Shot called. "Wait…there's two energy signatures going right towards it." He suddenly put a servo over his chest plate. "Oh Primus…one is Bumblebee!" He must have felt something through the connection he and Bee had.  
If one was Bee then the other…oh no… "Autobots, move out!" I called as I transformed and speed off in the direction of the signal. If this signal was a real Decepticon, those two where in real danger.

Starlight's View:  
We got to where the signal was but saw nothing but an old battle field. The rusted shells of ships and land transportation was a bit disconcerting. I transformed and looked around. "Bee there's nothing here." I said as he transformed.  
"See, false alarm then!" he beamed. Something seemed off though.  
"Let's go back then." I suggested but Bee put his servo on my arm. "Wait! Look!" He said and pointed up at the sky. "You can see the stars so clearly out here." I sighed and looked up. My optics widened at the beauty of all the stars.  
"Wow…" There was no light pollution out here. "It's…"  
"Beautiful." Bee said, putting an arm around my shoulders. I could have stayed like that for cycles but we couldn't.  
"Bumblebee…" I started but the ground started shaking, causing us to stumble away from each other. I was about to tell him to run when something shot up from underground, using two giant drills to make its way. I grabbed Bumblebee and pulled him away and to the left of this thing. The first thing I noticed was this was a machine and not a bot because of the glass cabin with a bot at the helm. The second thing I saw was the purple symbol crudely painted on the side.  
Oh slag… "Decepticon…" I whispered in fear. I knew we were totally screwed. I was about to tell Bee we should make a tactical retreat but I turned and saw the yellow mech take aim and fire at the ship. He hit a joint that was holding one of the two drills, cause a small explosion. I moved my left servo up to shield my eyes from the light.  
"Star, we should go, come on!" He called to me but before we could, the driver of the machine kicked out the glass and jumped out right in front of us.  
"Little glitches!" the black and red seeker growled. As he said this, Bumblebee and I watched in horror as three more Decepticons crawled out of the ship. "You will pay!" he transformed in to his jet mode along with a blue and yellow seeker. Both started circling us and shooting while the other two charged at us.  
Bee and I ran and took cover behind a rusted out ship hull. We looked at each other with disbelief.  
"So much for false alarm…" I sighed. The two jets were circling still but couldn't get a good shot at us from the air. However I knew we couldn't out run the other two mechs that weren't in their jet forms. "Now what?"  
"I….I don't know." Bee sighed. He put his hand up to his right audio receptor. "Bumblebee to Autobot base, come in Autobot base!" He called. He was trying to contact the base. I looked over at the two grounded seekers and saw they were just waiting now. We couldn't stay here forever.  
"Bee, by the time they get here, we could…" I ducked as a shot ricashade off the hull.  
"Come out, come out little sparklings!" One of them taunted.  
"We have to fight Bumblebee." I said, cocking my gun. "We'll try for the ones in the air first, they're the real danger right now."  
"The other two?" the yellow mech asked, mimicking my moves.  
"Until they fly or shoot, we ignore them for now. One my mark, one, two…" Right before I said three, the blue and yellow seeker was shot out of the sky. He screamed as he hit the ground below. He was out but not offline. I turned to Bee who had the same look of surprise.  
"Younglings! Get out of there!" A voice, who I recognized as Ironhide called out. I grabbed Bee's arm and pulled him with me. We ran out and towards the four vehicles driving towards us. As we got to them, they transformed and starting firing at the four 'Cons. We turned and did the same.  
"It's Optimus!" The grey grounded seeker yelled out to his comrades before transforming.  
"Frag it!" The dark turquoise mech by him growled before following his partner. "We aren't to engage! Retreat!"  
I was surprised as I saw the three seekers take off and blast over us. Hot Shot took aim but my Sire stopped him.  
"Let them go. They are no threat." He had a stern tone to his voice. "Ironhide, help me get the 'Con. We'll take him back for interrogation." The old red mech nodded and walked over to the thought to be unconscious bot. The moment he got to the now sparking bot, he got up and took aim at Ironhide. The old mech was faster and was able to disarm him but unfortunately wasn't fast enough to stop him from transforming and taking off. How he was still able to fly was beyond me.  
"Let's get back." A green mech who I had only seen in the halls said, putting a hand on both Bee and my shoulder. Before we transformed, I noticed the disappointed look in my Sire's optics. I could feel his anger and fear through our bond which made the guilt I felt even worst. I knew we were in for it when we got back.

Optimus Prime's View:  
"What were you two thinking?" Both younglings were sitting in the chairs in front of my desk and both had the same guilty look. I asked them as calmly as I could. Earlier I asked Springer to report to Prowl what had happened, and get patrol unites sent out to make sure there were not ways a bot could get in or out undetected again so I could talk to these two.  
"I-I'm sorry, Sire…" Starlight said softly. Unlike Bumblebee, she wouldn't look up from her servos in her lap. The guilt I was feeling from our bond was almost overwhelming.  
"Sorry? Primus." I said, putting a servo over my face in frustration for a moment before regaining my composure. "Do you know what could have happened to you two? You could have been killed!" Both shyed away. "What were you doing?"  
"I-um…" Bumblebee started. "I-I found a signal and…well I thought we could help since you guys were out investigating a different area."  
"How did you access the computers Bumblebee?" It was a security issue. Did I have to change the passwords? Was the system glitching?  
Starlight look at Bee and he sighed before getting something from his storage unit. "I found…" Starlight elbowed him. "TOOK it. It was left in the mess hall. It's Hoist's security pass…" He handed the flash drive over.  
I was disappointed he didn't turn it in but I was now also angry Hoist would do something so stupid.  
"Bumblebee, why didn't you turn it in?"  
"I wanted too see where you guys went." He blurted. "I-I wanted to make sure you were safe." In other words, he wanted to make sure we weren't offline.  
I sighed again as I got up and walked towards them. I knelt down in front of them and put a servo on each of their shoulders.  
"I'm disappointed in both of you. You should have alerted Prowl or Jazz to the situation. What you did was not only dangerous but suicidal." Starlight looked up at me for the first time. I saw coolant forming in her eyes. "But I also am…proud that you two did this." Both looked at me confused. "You two pointed out flaws in our system and were going to take on four Decepticons on your own. That takes steel wires to do." Both smiled softly.  
"Sire…we…we didn't think it was a real alarm." Starlight said, her vocalizers sounding like she was on the verge of crying. "We…thought it was a glitch." Bumblebee nodded in agreement.  
"Unfortunately it was not." I said, wiping a stray tear off of her cheek. I reached back and took ahold of the drive. I couldn't let it exist any longer. If my younglings could get it, the cons could as well. I crushed in, surprising both bots. "The Decepticons are well named. They excel in deceit. The one we went to investigate was the false signal." I looked back at them as I stood. "If this happens again, which I dearly hope it doesn't, what is it you two should do?"  
"We alert the team." Starlight said softly.  
"And?" They tilted their helms. "You wait for a command from a superior." I smiled. "You are both almost old enough to get your weapons upgrade so…I'll allow both of you to do weapons training with Ironhide and Chromia." Their optics lit up at that.  
"Really?!" Both chirped happily.  
"After your punishment." Their faces fell which made me chuckle. "You're not getting out scot free. You will both clean the showers and help with kitchen duty for the next seven solar cycles." They groaned in disappointment.  
"Then we can do weapons training?!" Bumblebee beamed. His demeanor had changed completely for a few klicks ago.  
"Of course." I patted his shoulder and stood. "You're dismissed." I turned back to my desk and deposited the crushed flash drive into the trash. I heard Bee chirp with glee and ran out the door but my sparkling stayed behind. "Is there anything else?" I asked her.  
"Sire…" She was standing behind me. I turned to her and waited for her to finish. "Um…about the security thing. Could someone be able to design a, I don't know…an optic scanner for the doors and stuff?" I was a good idea.  
"I'll ask Wheeljack about it. That's a good idea Star." I smiled. She still seemed off about something though. Maybe she felt I was still angry.  
"Star." I said as I pulled her into a hug. "I'm not angry. I was worried. I thought I was going to lose you." She wrapped her arms around me. "If I had lost you and Bee…I don't know what I would do."  
"I'm sorry." She sobbed.  
"Shhh…I know." I held her for a while while she cried. I knew I couldn't always be there to protect her and I didn't want anything to happen to her. I wanted her to always be safe but this war was not going to let that happen. "I love you, my little spark."  
"I love you too, Sire." She said as she calmed down.


	19. Chapter 19

Optimus Prime's View:  
Time flew by and the war still dragged on. My sparkling was no longer a youngling and had just turned sixteen stellar cycles. She was now tall enough to come up just past my shoulder and had grown into a beautiful femme. She was also now in training to become a spy under Jazz' supervision.  
Bumblebee had also grown quite a bit as well, though he was shorter than Star. He came up to her shoulders, but he made up for it with his fighting spirit. He was training under Jazz' watch as well, but he was training to be a saboteur and scout. I was very proud of both of them.  
Hot Shot was also doing quite well. He was quickly becoming a great warrior and honing his skills at welding fire. His sire, Rocket, was able to do the same thing and was the top warrior on Cybertron during his time. I just hoped Hot Shot wouldn't meet the same fate.

Starlight's View:  
"Remember what I taught you. Aim, exhale, and then fire." Ironhide yelled from behind me. Bee and I were at the firing range and practicing with a few other bots. "Begin!"  
The moment he gave the word, bots all around me started firing on the targets that were placed in front of us. I took a little more time than the others to start because I wanted every shot to count and hit my target dead on. Bee on the other hand just went at it with the rest.  
"Hold!" Ironhide called and everybot put their guns down. "Roll 'em in!" He made a motion with his hand and the metal targets moved on their track closer to us. The red mech started walking down the line, grading us. "The frag are you aiming for! You're supposed to hit the target, not the wall!" He yelled at one poor blue mech. He continued that way until he got to Bee. "Not bad, kid. Work harder on your aim and make sure every shot hits where you want." I looked over and Bee missed his mark a few times but otherwise the shots were mostly in the midsection. The old war mech got to me and just looked at it.  
Did I mess up? I worried that I had done something wrong. He was never this quiet during target practice.  
"Everybot, come here." I gulped as everyone gathered near me. "See this target? Do you see any marks missed?" I didn't dare look back at everyone but did look at my target sheet. Not one hit outside of the outline. How did I do that? "All of you should aspire to be like Starlight here! Make every shot count! Bumblebee and Starlight with me. The rest of you slaggers are to reset and try again!" Everyone was in stunned silence.

Bee and I followed Ironhide into his office and he motioned for us to take a seat in front of his desk.  
"You two have been under my wing for what, nine staller cycles?" He sat on the edge of his desk and waited for our reply. We nodded. "Pit, you two have shown the most improvement and are the best shots of your class." I had no idea where he was going with this. "I'm giving you the ok to get weapons upgrades. I already sent the message to Prime and Ratchet. Return here when you're done. Get going!" he waved us off. Bee and I were still in shock by his words it took him yelling at us to get out of there and go to the weapons depot.

Ratchet was waiting outside the door for us and sighed. "Why he's okayed you to have weapons this early is beyond me…" We heard the medic mumble and he scanned his optic to open the door. "Come on! Let's get this done and you two can practice with them." He led us inside and we looked all around us. This room was different than the gun storage area. This one was filled with weapons that were fitted into bots arms, shoulders and even legs. "Alright, pick one out and I'll fit it on ya."  
I went to the right and looked at the weapons on the wall. On this side was mostly swords and smaller guns. The variety that was available had my head spinning! I couldn't decide and was still exploring options after Bee choose plasma cannons to have installed in both his arms. I sighed and continued to look. I knew I wanted to have a melee weapon like my Sire had but I also wanted a gun installed. I finally settled on having two wrist blades and having a plasma-pulse machine gun installed on my right arm.

"Alright younglings, it took three joors to do, but you finally have your weapon upgrades." Ratchet sighed and stepped back from Bee. I was done with mine first since Ratchet wanted to do the easier of the two installations. I smiled and extended my new blades. They had an orange glow when active and could slice through a Con's armor like cutting through mercury. "Hey! Not in here!" I quickly put them away to avoid the medic's rage.  
"Sorry doc bot. I'm just a little excited." I smiled nervously.  
"You'll get to use them soon. Alright, you two are dismissed." He motioned for us to leave the weapons room and return to Ironhide. Bee and I beamed at each other and took off. I couldn't wait to test these babies out and show off to Sire!

"You two ready?" Ironhide meet us in the hall of the firing range. "I dismissed the class so you two can practice all ya want." He gave a half smile and led us in. "Show me what ya got." The room had been reset to resemble more of a battle ground with targets all across the shooting area. Bullet proof glass was put up and we were to go into the rage and "kill the 'cons" as Ironhide put it.  
I beat Bee in a coin toss and got to go first. The yellow bot sulked in the back of the room while I formed my gun and took aim. There were a total of twenty targets on the range and after the door closed, I shot at the farthest targets. Ironhide was confused by this at first but then I replaced my gun with the wrist swords and began slicing them apart. I didn't go after each one the same and showed off my close range fighting skills that Jazz and my Sire taught me.  
"Impressive." The red mech commented after I finished off the last target. "Come on out kid. We'll reset and then you can go Bumblebee." Ironhide entered the range and started setting up new targets for Bee.  
"Slag Star!" My yellow friend slapped me on the back and grinned. "I didn't know you could do some of those moves!"  
"There's a lot you don't know about me." I joked. He rolled his optics. "What?"  
"Please, we used to live together. Frag we grew up together, there isn't a thing I don't know about you." I scoffed and playfully shoved him. "Besides, it wasn't all that impressive."  
"Oh? You can do better?" I watched him puff up a bit and smirk. "Show me then."  
"Oh, I will!" He put his battle mask down as Ironhide came out and gave Bee the ok to go.  
He formed his guns and began taking out the targets. I was impressed by him, but not in the way I expected. Yes, he did have style and moves but I was focusing on his door wings and body posture. He seemed so calm and relaxed, ready for anything and yet he was alert and focused. I couldn't help but watch every movement he made, even the smallest ones like the slight flutter of his wings caught my optic. I had never seen my friend in such a way.  
When he was finished, he stepped out and walked right towards me. He lifted his mask and gave me the goofiest smile.  
"From the look on your face, I'd say you were impressed?" I felt my face plating heat up a bit and looked away.  
"I…think you did fine." As I said this, a warning popped up in my HUD. I opened it and it was flashing something about a heat cycle impending. I had no idea what that meant and decided maybe I should go see Ratchet. "I think there's something wrong with one of my upgrades. I'll…see you later." I quickly left before either of the two could say anything.

"Ratchet?" I stepped into the med bay and looked around for the old bot.  
"He's out right now. What's up Starlight?" Red Alert answered from a room to the left. I entered, making sure no one was around.  
"Well, I think one of my weapons upgrades in malfunctioning." I told him. He motioned for me to take a seat on a chair near him and did a quick scan. "I keep getting a warning about a heat cycle. Maybe one is overheating?" Red Alert stopped his scans and laughed. "What?!"  
"You haven't had that talk yet have you?" I gave him a confused look. He picked up a data pad nearby and started looking through it. "About what a heat cycle is and what it intales. Look, every bot goes through this. It's your interface systems coming online…"  
"Mine already have." I interrupted him. "They came on five stellar cycles ago."  
"But you didn't have a heat cycle?" He looked up. I shook my head. "That's normal. Some bots don't get one right off the bat and it can take about ten stellar cycles for the first one to kick in. All it means is that your systems are working and ready." He was looking at the data pad again and going through somethings. "Every bot gets them about every ten to twenty stellar cycles. During that time, bots will feel a strong urge to mate."  
"Woh…hold up, I'm going to want to do what?!" Red gave me a sympathetic smile and put a hand on my shoulder.  
"You don't have to. Most ignore it and don't act on it while others…" he trailed off and let me fill the blanks. "However, other bots can sense that you are in heat. You will give off a faint scent that bots can detect. Most won't even know why they suddenly feel this attraction towards those in heat. Just know, you don't have to do anything." I was suddenly glad Black Sunshine had indeed left and wouldn't bother me during this time.  
"Thank you Red." I smiled softly. "Is there anything I can do to keep it from…attracting bots?"  
"Afraid not. Just stick around bots you trust." He stood from his crouched position and let me leave. "Oh, Starlight. I shouldn't tell you this but it might comfort you to know, both you and Bee are going through the same thing right now. He came in this morning with similar questions. Primus, you two really do hit everything at the same time." He said the last part more to himself than to me before he disappeared into another back room.  
I stood there, frozen for a bit as this information hit me. Is that why I'm feeling this way towards Bee? I asked myself. Will he now feel this way towards me? I really hoped not. I wanted our feelings to be real and not set off by a stupid heat cycle.

"Starlight!" I turned and saw my best friend running towards me. "Hey, you feeling alright?" He stopped just in front of me. "All systems go?" I knew he didn't know about me going through a heat cycle but it felt like he said the wrong thing.  
"Uh…yeah. Fine." Why did Red Alert tell me about Bee?!  
"Ok? You sure you don't have some wires crossed?" He teased and bumped me playfully. "You can tell me."  
I felt my face heat up again and sighed. "Fine…but…not here ok?" I took his arm and led him into an empty meeting room.  
"Ok…what's with the secrecy?" He quickly went into a panic mode and put his hands on my shoulders. "Is it serious? Are you dying?!" I laughed and put my right hand on his chassis.  
"I'm fine. I just…" I took a deep breath and decided to just tell him. "I'm going through a heat cycle is all. I'm…just scared I guess." Bee looked up at me, his blue optics trying to figure out if I was messing with him or not.  
"Oh…well…that's not bad." He backed up a little, his hands still on my shoulders. "I…am too. We can get through this together." He smiled and lightly patted my shoulder. Something about the way he was acting was a little off putting.  
"Bumblebee, are you ok?" he looked away from me but, didn't make any move to leave. "Bee?"  
"Star…if I tell you something, will you promise not to laugh?" I rolled my optics and smiled. "Ok…well…I-I." Before he could even get out what he wanted to say, the alarms went off. "Slag…"  
"Come on, you can tell me later." I lightly pushed him towards the door.

Outside, bots were running down the halls towards the debriefing room. Bee and I followed but I was cut off by my Sire.  
"Starlight, you are to go with Jazz." He said, blocking me from passing him and blocking Bee from coming back.  
"But…"  
"Go! He will debrief you." He took off with Bumblebee, leaving me behind once again.

"Jazz?" I called to the black and white bot near my Sire's office. "Jazz, what is going on? Why am I…?"  
"Get inside." Jazz took my arm and pushed me into to office. "Stay away from the window!" He called as he locked the door and activated his gun.  
"Jazz…you're scaring me…" I activated my own gun and aimed the opposite direction of my teacher.  
"No one told you huh? Figures." Jazz went over and closed the curtain with his free hand. "Look, da Cons are takin' femmes and off linin' 'em. You are with me 'cause da safe houses have been compromised. I think we all know who told da locations."  
"Black Sunshine…" I growled. "But why just the femmes? If he wants to eliminate are ability to…you know… shouldn't he be taking out carrier mechs too?"  
"Slag if I know Sta'. I can't explain what the 'Cons do. Honestly, I don't think I want ta ever know da way they think." Jazz sighed. "If they were goin' after both…" He suddenly got very angry. "Slag, they'd go afta Prowler!" I knew the two were close, but I didn't realize how close till now.  
"They'd come after you too, wouldn't they?" I made a random guess on if he was a carrier mech as well and apparently got it right, judging the way his face fell. It was difficult to tell who was a carrier mech and who wasn't. The only true way to see is if they take their cod pieces off.  
"Yeah…an' Bee an'…frag it all…" He looked back towards the closed windows. "I wish I was out there." The comment that Bee was a carrier shocked me a bit, but I choose to ignore it.  
"They'll be fine. I'm more worried about the femmes that are stuck out there with no protection." I knew I wouldn't be able to deceive him into letting me go out and help, but maybe I could convince him that if he goes with me, I'll be safe.  
"No dice little one. We ain't ta leave this room till we get the all clear." He looked just as upset as I felt.  
"Our friends and family are out there! We need to help them!" I stepped up to the mech and got in his face. "I can take care of myself and you damn well know it!" Jazz smiled and put his hand on my head like he used to do when I was little.  
"My have ya grown. You really are just like Rain. Ya Sire will be proud ta know you tried to challenge me." He easily disarmed me and forced me to put my gun away. "You still gotta lot ta learn Sta'. Cons don't stand still like da targets you shoot. They also don't take pity if ya gun jams. They don't attack one at a time an' will surround you and take ya down." He pulled a chair out and had me sit. "Your spark is in the right place though. I worry about the other femmes but luckily most of them are here in the main tower. The ones that were taken out were just in da wrong place at da wrong time. We lost far to many thought..."  
"Has this happened before?" I wanted to know if my creator died this way. Sire didn't want to talk about it and never told me how she died.  
"Na. Megatron did gather the femmes up in the beginning of da war but we were able ta save most of 'em. The rest stayed on their own free will." Jazz gave me a knowing look. "You want to know what happened to your creator, don't cha." I nodded. "*Sigh* Prime might hang me from ma thumbs for telling ya but, 'ight."  
He told me what had happened. He told me the base had been attacked and she and Bumblebee's creator were out fighting when a bomb went off under them. The initial report said it had been dropped on them, but was later found to have been underground. Jazz then told me how much she had truly cared about me and about how beautiful she was.  
"Primus, she was an amazin' bot Sta'. I was just a younglin' when I met her, but I remember how kind she was." The visored mech smiled. "I wish you could remember her." Little did he know, I did remember her. Not her face, but her voice was still in my memory. At night, sometimes in my sleep cycle, I would hear her singing to me.  
"I…miss her…" I hung my head and felt the sting of tears in my optics.  
"Hey now." Jazz moved forward in his chair and lifted my chin. "I didn't mean ta make ya cry. Come on, smile for me lil' one." I gave in after the nickname he used to call me and smiled. "That's betta. No more sad talk now." He rubbed the top of my head. "I hear you an' Bee got ya weapons now, what cha get?"

Joors later, Jazz got a call for an all clear and we were released from our "prison." Jazz said he need to check in and left me to go find my Sire and friends. When I couldn't locate them I tried to call them. Nether picked up and I started panicking. I ran down the hall towards the medical bay and heard the beeping sound Bee and I gave off when we got near each other. This only happened now if one of us was worried about the other and was all internal instead of everyone being able to hear it.  
"Woh there." I was stopped from entering the med bay by my Sire. "You can't go in right now. Ratchet and his team are working on injured bots. You should not see." His optic told me he was keeping something from me.  
"Sire, who's in there?"  
"Starlight…" He was trying to stall but I didn't back down. "Bumblebee was injured. I should have left him here with you, but we needed all the bots we could. He's going to be alright. It wasn't anything major."  
I felt my spark drop and tuned out a bit. My friend was hurt. I felt a tug on my spark and looked back up to my Sire. He was asking if I was alright without saying it out loud.  
"What happened?" My voice sounded weaker than I meant it too.  
"We were getting a small group of femmes to a safe zone and were ambushed. Bee was pinned down by Starscream but managed to get him off. He fought bravely and we were able to protect the femmes and get them out of there. Bee suffered a broken wing and a twisted ankle. He was very lucky Starscream didn't want to mess with us." My Sire had a look in his optics. I had seen it before and knew he was proud of Bee's bravery but knew how worried I was. "I know you two are close and can see how worried you are. I must ask, do you have feelings for him?"  
"Huh? Of course! He's…like a brother to me." But even I heard the doubt in my voice. Did I really only care for him only as a brother? That reminded of what he was going to tell me before the alarm went off. I wanted to know what he had to say.  
"Alright." Sire saw right through me, as usual. "Just be careful. Love is the toughest battle of all." My face heated up at his words. He laughed as he walked away.  
Love?! I'm not in love with Bee! I silently yelled and sat down with a huff in one of the chairs in the hall. Was I? I quietly debated with myself and waited for Bee.

On the other side of Cybertron:  
"Starscream Report." A voice called from the dark depths of a fallen sky scrapper.  
"We couldn't locate her sir." A grey and red seeker knelt in front of the dark form. "She must have been in the main base." The dark form growled and hit the wall closest to him with his fist.  
"I want her found and brought to me! She is the only thing standing between me and victory." The dark form turned towards the seeker, red optics glowing in rage. "I will bring my brother to his knees. Besides, I've never met my little niece. I think it's high time for a visit."


	20. Chapter 20

I also wanted to explain something that I didn't make clear but meant too. The ages that are given are their human equivalents. Sixteen equals to about a hundred and sixteen. I have no idea if I explained that well and if there are questions, please ask! I'm more than happy to try and explain it better.

Starlight View:

Lately I couldn't take my optics off of Bumblebee's door wings. Sure, I've always been interested in them and found them really cool but now…something was different. Every move they made caught my eye, even ones that were so small I doubted Bee even knew he was making them. I secretly wondered how sensitive they were but never voiced them to Bee.  
Right now, Bee and I were in combat training with Hot Shot. He was in charge of the class today because Jazz had to do a bunch of meetings. It was rumored that Jazz was also about to become the third in command.  
"Alright, pair up! We're going to be doing sparring exercises today." Hot Shot called from the front of the training room. Bee and I choose each other, as usual, and waited for the rest to pair up.  
"Oh great, the twins are paired together…" Bee elbowed me, getting me to look over to them. They were two pairs down, but everyone could already hear them trash talking each other. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were relatively new to the team and already had a reputation for being pranksters and getting into huge fights with each other.  
"Hope Hottie is up for them." I whispered back. "If they really get into it again, we're in big trouble."  
"Alright, this exercise is made to practice taking down your opponent. You are to pin you partner to the ground for five nano clicks and let go right after." Hot Shot was walking up and down the lines as he gave his speech. We'd all heard it before, take your partner down without hurting them and then let them take you down. Bee and I squared up and waited for him to give the signal. "Begin!"  
Bee and I charged each other and locked hands. We were about equal in strength and neither of us wanted to go down first.  
"Come on Star, you know you can't hold out as long as I can." Bee smirked and pushed forward. I didn't give.  
"Please, when was the last time I went down first." I pushed back, forcing him to take a small step back. If I had wanted too, I could have released my right hand and punched him, but this wasn't that kind of exercise. We released each other and circled each other for a few nano clicks before Bee charged, shoving his shoulder into my abdomen. Somehow I stayed up and grabbed his waist, flipping him and pinned him on his back. He didn't stop fighting and grabbed my left arm, causing me to fall and enabling him to pin me face down. To and to insult, he took the same arm and pinned it to my back, twisting it just a bit to cause a small tingle of pain to run up my shoulder.  
"You were saying?" Bee teased. I growled and looked up at him. "Oh come on, don't be like that." I rolled my optics and tried to escape before the five nano clicks were up and he officially won. I noticed one of his legs was out a little far and kicked my leg out, foot colliding with his knee. He went down, releasing me and allowed me to flip up and pin him face down.  
"Any last words?" I smirked, putting my knee in-between his door wings and twisted his right arm behind him. Bee struggled a bit and tried to get back up. I got caught up in watching his door wings flutter in anger that I didn't even realize that my free hand had reached up and touched the joint connecting it to his shoulder. I noticed he stopped moving and held completely still the moment I touched it.  
"What are you…?" He was interrupted when the twins came crashing by. I quickly let him got but it was too late. Sunny and pushed Sides down, the red twins leg coming up, knocking me down and on my back right on top of Bee's back. I heard a pained yelp but couldn't figure out if it was from the twins or not. I quickly got up and leaned down to help Bee.  
"Everyone stop! Bumblebee, don't move!" Hot Shot ran towards us. "Sunstreaker and Sideswipe outside!" He yelled, sending the twins out to the hall for a moment. They knew they were in trouble if they got our mild mannered Hot Shot to yell at them. "Bee, are you alright?" His older brother knelt down to his level.  
"My door wing…" he tried to move his left one but it wouldn't. His right one meanwhile twitched rapidly as if it too was in pain. "I-I think it's jammed."  
"Ok, come on." Hot Shot helped him up. "Starlight, take him to the med bay." I nodded. "Aright everyone, five click brake then back to it!" Hot Shot called to the class as we left.

Bee was walking a little funny as we made our way to the med bay. It was if he was off balance, but all that was wrong was one of his wings wasn't working right.  
"Bee, you ok?" I asked as I had to grab his arm to keep him from running into the wall.  
"Yeah, fine." He was being short with me.  
"I'm sorry…" I let him go. He sighed, stopping for a click and looked at me.  
"It's not your fault. I'm…just in a lot of pain." He walked forward a bit and I got a better view of his door wings. His left one was bent upwards, right at the joint and was sparking a bit when he tried to move it. His right one was still fluttering sporadically, but had slowed down just a bit from earlier.  
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked, approaching him again and reaching out to touch it but stopped myself.  
"No, not really. It's just stuck in an upward position. Nothing too bad, just painful." He gave me a pained smile as we got to the bay. "Go on, I'll be fine." He nodded his head to go back, but I had other plans.

I stopped in front of Prowl's office when I heard the voice of the bot I was looking for. Sounded like he got out of meetings early and decided to visit the SIC. I swallowed hard, not really sure if I wanted to ask my questions in front of Prowl as well but decided to just go for it and knocked.  
"Enter." Prowl called out. I walked in and Jazz flashed me a smile from where he was sitting a top of Prowl's desk.  
"Heya Sta'!" The visored mech hopped down. "What cha here fo?"  
"I…was actually wondering if I could ask you something." I was nervous, seeing as Prowl was there. My question was about door wings and I really didn't want the SIC to hear it. Then again, he himself had them so maybe he could help.  
"Shoot." Jazz crossed his arms and leaned against the desk.  
"Must you do this here?" Prowl sighed. I hadn't really had much of a chance to interact with the other black and white mech but was aware of how he didn't like getting into other bots business.  
"Oh come on. It can't be that bad." Jazz shrugged. "Let it out Sta'."  
I fidgeted a bit under their gazes. Prowl picked up on this and raised an optic ridge. I also noticed his door wings twitch in slight annoyance.  
"Um…ok. Well…"I took a deep breath and just let it out. "It's…um…just how sensitive are door wings?" I said as fast as I could. Prowl's own wings shot up in surprise and the look he gave me was priceless. Jazz just chuckled.  
"Why ya wanna know that?" Jazz was trying to keep from laughing.  
"Well…during practice I accidently landed on Bee and one of his wings got bent. He said it hurt him but it didn't look that bad." Jazz hummed in thought and Prowl put his head in his hands.  
"Door wings are extremely sensitive. They can detect movement and slight differences in air pressures. The slightest touch can cause pain. If Bumblebee's wing was bent it would cause him extreme pain." Prowl lifted his head as he spoke. That would explain why I had a hard time sneaking up on Bee. "They should not be messed with."  
"Oh come on Prowler, ya know dat's not entirely true." Jazz smiled. "Yeah, they are sensitive but not all touch hurts them. Soft touches can cause pleasure an' relive tension if done right." I watched Prowl's face plates turn a soft red. "If ya want, ya could offer ta help Bee relieve the tension that he'll have even afta Ratchet fixes him up."  
"Jazz…" Prowl growled. "Don't suggest such things to younglings." I crossed my arms at that comment. Sure, I was younger than him, but I wasn't going to do any harm to my friend, nor do…that.  
"Woh, I didn' mean in dat way!" Jazz put his hands up in a non threatening way. "I meant it as a way to help a friend." He looked back at me a flashed a knowing smile. I felt my face plates heat up.  
"Uh…well…thanks for the help." I felt a mounting tension between Jazz and Prowl and wanted to get out before they fought.  
"No prob Sta'! If ya have any mo' questions just come ask." Jazz waved as I left. As soon as the door shut, I heard Prowl make a comment on how he couldn't believe Jazz was now the TIC.

While making my way back home, I ran into the twins. They really weren't bad mechs, but they were a bit…unorthodox in their ways.  
"Hey! Starlight right?" Sunstreaker walked up to me. The moment he got within a few feet of me, his attitude changed. "How are you?" he leaned against the wall and looked me up and down. His optics dimmed a bit as he did.  
Frag this heat cycle… I mentally sighed and took a step back. "I'm fine. You two owe Bee an apology."  
"Right, sorry about that." Sideswipe came forward. I knew I was in big trouble when he started acting like his brother. "So, you seeing anyone?" He leaned on the opposite wall of Sunny, blocking my path home.  
"What?" I took a step back. Both of them moved forward a bit. Slag it all, I'm trapped. My only option was to go back but that only lead back to Prowl's office. "Look, I just want to go home ok?"  
"We can take you home." The yellow twin had a wolfish grin. "Come on." He held his hand out for me to take. I knew they were under the "spell" of my scent and wasn't sure what they would do if I went with them.  
"No, that's ok. I have to make a stop by the med bay any way." Both filched at the mention of it. I wasn't really going that way, but they didn't like Ratchet and the feeling was mutual with the medic. "If you could…um…" I motioned for them to move. Both hung their heads and Sides stepped behind his brother to let me pass. I felt their optics staring at my back side but choose to ignore it. Thank Primus they didn't like our chief medical officer.

Luck was on my side for once and I found Bumblebee down the next hall way, leaning against the wall as if he was waiting for someone.  
"Hey Bee!" I called to him. He looked up and smiled. "What are you doing?" This hall was mostly empty offices. I only came this way because it was the fastest way home.  
"Hey, just waiting for Hot Shot. He wants to make sure I'm ok." He rolled his optics. "He's so over protective…"  
"He just worries." I shrugged. I knew first hand what it was like to be over protected. "How is you wing by the way?"  
"Fine. Ratchet wasn't pleased, of course, but it's all better." To prove a point, he turned and fluttered them for me.  
"Right." I smiled. "Oh, before…when we were in the meeting room, what did you want to say?" I was reminded since we were near by said room.  
"Oh…um…" he suddenly got nervous. "I wanted to say…ow!" he flinched when his left wing twitched. He reached back and tried to rub it.  
"Here." I made him turn and gently rubbed the joint. "Is this where it hurts?" I watched as he relaxed a bit under my touch.  
"Yeah…thanks." He let me continue until the wing stopped twitching and slouched down to match the other. "I love you…" He said it so quietly I almost didn't hear it.  
"Huh?" He tensed up, his wings shooting up and he whirled around in embarrassment.  
"I-I mean…I loved that! Thank you!" His face plates were a deep red.  
"Bee, stop." I laughed. "What did you say?" I just wanted to hear him say it again. And maybe I wanted to watch him squirm a bit as well.  
"I-I…um…" I couldn't resist the look on his face and leaned in to kiss his cheek. This stopped him from fidgeting and look at me.  
"I…love you too…" I knew my face was just as red as his. He leaned in towards me but before our lip components touched, Hot Shot came around the corner.  
"There you are!" We quickly pulled back and I thought I was going to glitch out. "What are you doing here Star?" He looked between us and gave Bee a knowing look. "Need some more alone time?"  
"No!" Both of us cried. Hot Shot laughed at us.  
"I knew you two would get together. Come on, let's get home. Star, you can follow us if you want." He motioned for us to follow him. Bee and I were too embarrassed to really talk so we just continued in silence.

We were half way across the court yard when the sirens went off. We all moved towards the nearest building to hear the debriefing over the coms but were stopped when something landed right in front of us.  
"Target located." The silver and purple mech smirked while he held a finger up to his temple. Not a nano second later, something else landed behind us.  
"Good job, Skywarp. Let's grab her and go." A red and silver mech hissed.  
"Understood, Starscream." The one named Skywarp started to come at us. "Come here, femme."  
The three of us formed our guns. "Bumblebee, cover Star." Hot Shot commanded. "I've got Starscream." He took off and took on the red seeker.  
The purple seeker made a grab for me. I easily avoided him and slashed his chest plating. The mech growled and made another attempt but Bee shot at his left leg. The seeker was forced to back off. He transformed and flew above us, shooting at us and forcing us to take cover.  
"Bee, you go to the left and distract him. I'll take the right and take him out." I said quietly. He nodded and we quickly took action. There was a hiccup in our plan. More 'Cons had showed up and were aware of where I was. We were in deep slag.  
"Decepticons, get the femme and let's go!" I couldn't figure out which seeker was talking.  
"Get down!" A familiar voice called out and a shot rang out, hitting one of the airborne bots. My Sire got in front of me. "Get to the main building!" He called as a seeker dived down low, allowing my Sire to jump on him, stabbing him and taking him out of the air.  
I didn't want to back down. I was tired of everyone having to protect me and I wanted to prove I didn't need it. I turned back and made to find Bee.

I was able to find him easily, now pinned by a different con. I shot the con off of him and got Bee back on his feet.  
"You ok?" I gave him a quick once over and deemed him ok.  
"I'm fine, but why are you still here? Shouldn't you be…" I silenced him by putting my hand up.  
"I'm not running away while my friends are out here fighting! Come on, let's drive them back." I put my battle mask down and took off.  
It wasn't long until we did have them driven back, but just as we thought we won, I was grabbed.  
"Star!" Bumblebee called out just before the con grabbed me and took off. I tried to get him to let go but to no avail.  
"Quit squirming!" Starscream got a better hold of me and continued on.

Bumblebee's View:

It happened so fast, one nano sec she was next to me, the next a 'Con had her and was flying off with her. Without a second though, I transformed and took off after them. I was determined to get her back.  
"Bumblebee, get back here!" My brother yelled at me over the com link.  
"No! Starlight has been captured! I'm in pursuit!" The line was silent for a click.  
"Do not engage! Keep them in sight. We're on our way!" Hot Shot called back.

It was at least a joor before the seeker stopped, dropping Star from a considerable height. The landing was hard, and I was surprised she was still able to get up. I transformed and hid behind a large rock, keeping watch and making sure she was ok.  
"What do you want?!" Star yelled as the seeker landed near her. I wondered why she wasn't fighting back until I saw the stasis cuffs. Slagger had her completely under his control.  
"Be quiet!" I heard metal colliding with metal and turned to see Star was down again. "We're waiting for Megatron. He wants to check to see if we have the right one." Starlight gave him a dirty look but remained quiet. I wanted to go to her. I wanted to help but if I did, my cover would be blown and we could both be taken out. Starscream wasn't out here alone and the other seekers weren't far behind.  
"Why does Megatron want me?" I looked back again to see Star had moved back away from the 'Con and was trying to get the cuffs off.  
"I told you to be quiet!" He lifted his hand but was stopped short by a deep voice yelling.  
"STARSCREAM! What did I say about laying a hand on her!?" A dark form landed just feet from me and started towards them.  
"My lord…" The seeker's demeanor changed completely and backed away from Starlight. "I was only trying…"  
"No more talk from you." The silver mech who I assumed was Megatron himself, grabbed the green and blue femme by her arm, puling her up to his level. "Well, looks like you didn't fail me this time." He sneered, setting Star down, uncharacteristically gentle. "Welcome, little one."  
"W-who are you?" She was visibly shaking in fear.  
"You don't know?" Megatron acted like he was hurt. "My, you're Sire never told you about me?"  
"Megatron…" She whispered.  
"That's right." He "lovingly" caressed her cheek. "Oh how I longed to meet you. You look a lot like my brother." Both of us were shocked by this.  
"W-what?" Star stepped back.  
"You are my little niece. Didn't you know this?" Before Starlight could answer, I heard another bot pull up. I thought for a moment it was Hot Shot but sadly it wasn't.  
"Lord Megatron, we have a spy." A very robotic voice stated.  
"Where?" The Con leader asked. The bot must have pointed towards me, because the next thing I know Starscream is behind me and threw me out into the open. "Good work Soundwave."  
"Let her go." I growled as I got up, aiming my guns at Megatron.  
"You've got guts little one." The 'Con let her go and came towards me. He hit my gun away and grabbed me by the throat.  
"To bad that is what is gonna get you killed." Starscrem sneered.  
"No. We won't kill him. We shall let him go back to his base." The way he said it made a cold feeling shoot down my back strut. I felt a burning sensation on my throat and tried to cry out but not sound would come out. It hurt even more with every sound I tried to make. After a while he seemed to get bored and threw me to the ground.  
"Bumblebee!" I heard Star call out.  
"Do what you please to him but do not allow him to go offline."  
My vision was blurred from the pain, but I watched in horror as Megatron took off with Starlight and the 'Cons that were left behind circled me.

Optimus Prime's View:

We were too far behind and I feared what was going to happen. The moment I heard they had Starlight, my spark dropped. Every time I tried to reach out to her through our bond, all I got back was nothing but fear. It was like she couldn't even hear me trying to comfort her.  
"Sir, over there!" Prowl called and transformed. I transformed as well and followed him. Hot Shot ran past me, worried that it could be his brother. How I wished I had been the one to get there first.  
"Bee!" I heard the anguish is the other yellow bots voice. When I got to him, I saw why Hot Shot was so upset. "Bee, please say something!"  
The younger bot was mangled, almost unrecognizable. His wings were bend, the right one nearly pulled off, his legs were busted in multiple places. There was no way he could walk. He had a few bullet holes that were bleeding energon but none seemed to have hit anything vital. His left optic was black, not working and it looked like they had done something to his throat. He was coughing up energon and whining in pain.  
"Bumblebee…" I knelt down next to Hot Shot. "Primus, what have they done…" Bee seemed to know we were there and was trying to speak. "Don't try to say anything."  
"By Primus!" Ratchet finally made it. "Don't move him! I need to see if he's ok for transport." But Bee had other ideas. He struggled against the medic and continued to try to talk. "Hold still youngling. The more you move the worst you'll make your injuries."

Bumblebee's View:

The first one to arrive was my brother. I could barely see it was him but I heard his voice and felt the pull on my spark. I responded through our bond, telling him I was online and needed help. Optimus was next and I tried to tell him what happened. It hurt lit pit to talk. Something was wrong with my vocalizer. I tried to move but everything felt as if it were on fire.  
I heard Ratchet yell but couldn't make out what he said. I was starting to fade in and out of conciseness. They were talking about moving me and I struggled.  
No! Starlight is still out there! I screamed. I knew it was all in my head but I tried to convey this to my brother through our bond. Please, we have to go after them!  
"Please stop struggling Bee." I heard Hot Shot. He was close to me now, holding me against his chassis. "I can hear you. I know you want to go after Starlight and we will. I promise. We first need to figure out where she was taken. Please, let Ratchet help you." The desperation in his voice made me calm down a bit. I knew he was right, I had no idea where they went and I was right there!  
I don't know what happened after that. Ratchet said something about a sedative and I was out.


	21. Chapter 21

Starlight's View:  
This cell was gross. There were rust stains and a strange liquid from an unknown source dripping from the ceiling. I could see the puddle but the drips weren't landing any where near it. I explored it, trying to figure out if there was a way out. So far, no luck. The vent was too small for me to crawl through and there didn't seem to be any other way out. If they hadn't removed my weapons, I could have sliced through the wall near the door and forced it open from the inside. Too bad the 'Cons were smarter than they looked.  
What do I do? I asked myself and tried to devise a plan. The only way out was through the door. The only way to open the door was if someone opened it from the outside. No way was I going to be able to push past the 'Con that kept coming by. He had one lone red optic and didn't say too much. He would just give me energon rations and walked away. Occasionally he would say something but it was usually insulting.  
"We're going to do something a little differently today." I turned around and saw the purple con standing there.  
"Wow, a full sentence. That's new." I wasn't going to play nice.  
"I would watch you glossa if I were you." His one optic darkened. "You will tell me some information. In exchange, Megatron will allow you to stretch your legs."  
"And if I say no?" I wanted out sure, but I wouldn't give up any sensitive information.  
"Then I'll move to plan B." If he had a mouth, I sure he would be smirking.  
"And what, pray tell, is plan B?" I cross my arms over my chassis.  
"You don't want to find out…" He leaned on the wall across from the cell. "First question, what is your designation?"  
"Shouldn't you know? I am your prisoner." He glared at me. "Why don't you tell me yours. It seems unfair that you know mine but I don't know yours."  
"You're quite annoying…I'm called Shockwave. Yes, I do know your name. In fact I know a lot about you. You are the daughter of Prime and my Lord's niece." I rolled my optics. Of course he knew that much. "You also have sensitive information regarding your base."  
"Like?" I really didn't. I wasn't allowed to go to most meetings and most of the information I did know wasn't a secret. Well, that I knew of any way.  
"Why don't we find out." Shockwave's optic brightened. "Let's start with your friend. The yellow one my comrades had fun with."  
Bee… My spark sank. "What have you done to him?" I growled.  
"I did nothing. What is his designation?" I didn't respond. "You seem to care for him, based on your reaction. What is he too you?" Still didn't get anything out of me. "If you won't talk to me, maybe you'd talk to your old friend."  
My systems balked. He couldn't mean…before I could finish my thought, I saw his shadow coming down the hall. I felt fear take over and I backed up into the wall. For the first time, I felt utterly trapped and no one was here to help me. Once I could see him, he gave me an evil smirk.  
"Well, well…my have you grown." His deep voice resounded off of the metal walls of my cell. He inhaled sharply through his nose. "Hmm…you've grown up quite a bit since we last met." Slag he could pick up on it. I trembled in fear at the thought of him getting a hold of me.  
"Would you prefer to talk to Black?" Shockwave had a dark tone to his voice. I slowly shook my head. "You had your chance to talk to me." My spark started beating franticly as the purple con opened the door, allowing Black to enter. I looked around me, trying to find a way out. I couldn't believe this was happening. My worst fear was coming true.  
"You smell good, little one." Black purred as he approached, cornering me and putting a clawed digit against my cheek. He caressed my cheek, leaned in and inhaled with his face in my neck. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from crying out. "Tell me, how long has it been since we've seen each other?"  
"N-Not long e-enough…" I tried to stay brave but could feel my confidence wavering. Sunshine chuckled and pushed his body against mine. I could feel the heat radiating off of him.  
"Now, is that any way to greet an old friend." He purred into my audio. "I think there's a better way to greet me, don't you?" I tried to back up further but all I was doing was scraping my paint off on to the wall.  
"Please…don't…" I could feel tears stinging the corner of my optics. I felt his free hand run up my side, his pointer finger slipping into a seam. I arched away but he only pushed further, causing pain to shoot through my frame. "Stop!" I cried out, loosing my resolve.  
"Black, I think she's had enough for now." Shockwave warned from behind him. I couldn't see him from behind Black's huge frame. "You ready to talk?" Shockwave asked as the black mech backed away from me.  
"Why are you doing this?" I moved to the other corner, away from Black Sunshine.  
"Orders." The one eyed con sneered. "Now, do we need to go through this again?" He motioned towards the traitor. Black had a creepy smile on his face. I knew he was itching to get a hold of me again. I knew what he would do if he did.  
"No." I ducked my head and looked away from them. I wouldn't tell him anything important but I resolved to tell him old plans. They wouldn't know the difference.

Bumblebee's View:  
A bright light blinded my optics when I came back online. Everything was still slightly blurry and I could hear voices around me. One sounded familiar but it wasn't coming in very clear. I tried to ask where I was, but only static came out.  
"Easy little bro. Don't try to talk." I looked over to where the voice was and saw a very worried looking Hot Shot. "Hey, can you hear me?" He asked. I nodded.  
-Why can't I talk?- I asked over our bond.  
-Bee…I'm so sorry…- He looked down and took a hold of my hand.  
"He awake?" I looked over to see the red and white medic approaching. "Welcome back to the living."  
-How long was I out? - I asked my brother.  
"You were out for three megacycles." Hot Shot said out loud. I tried to sit up but was pushed back down. "Hold on there. Don't get up." Ratchet came forward and released me from the cords that were feeding energon into my tanks and taking my vitals. Once free, they allowed me to sit up, slowly.  
"How you feeling kid?" I tried to talk but again I only got static and a few whines out. "Right, I should tell you. Megatron…has done some thing to your vocalizer. I'm afraid I can't fix it." Ratchet said sadly. I looked to my brother for confirmation.  
"Bee, I'm sorry…" I shook my head in disbelief at Hot Shot's words. "You can't talk. I know it's hard but…we can get through this right?"  
"I'll do my best to find a way to fix it, I swear." Ratchet put a hand on my shoulder.

Optimus Prime's View:  
I sat outside of the med bay again. Prowl had told me there wasn't a point in sitting here, worrying my days away. He didn't understand that Bee was like a son to me.  
I looked up when the door slid open and reviled the medic.  
"Prime, I thought I told you not to worry and stay away." Ratchet chided me. He sighed giving me a soft smile. "He is back online but there is something you need to know before seeing him."  
I stood up when he said Bumblebee was awake but was halted from going in. "What is it, Ratchet?"  
"He…he can't talk." The sorrow in his optics told me it was serious. "I tried to fix it but, it's like it was melted from the inside out. I cleaned it out but the damage is too severe I'm not sure if he'll ever be able to speak again."  
The guilt I felt for Bumblebee was the worst I have ever felt. "I should have never allowed them to go out there. I should have made him come back." I hung my head.  
"It wasn't your fault Prime. Slag, we all would have gone after her. Don't blame yourself for this." The medic put a hand on my shoulder. "You can go in, just know he won't be able to respond to you. Hot Shot is helping to speak for him." He stepped back and allowed me to enter the bay.

Bumblebee was sitting up, his newly repaired legs hanging over the side. He looked as good as new, everything was repaired but I could see sadness in his optics.  
"Bumblebee." Both he and his brother looked up at me. "How are you feeling?" Bee shrugged. I got the hint that he didn't really want to "talk," but there wasn't much choice. "I'm sorry about what happened to you. I never meant for you to get hurt." I said as I knelt in front of him. Bee made a noise of acknowledgement. "I hate to ask you, but we need to know what happened."  
Bumblebee looked down at his hands for a click before he turned to Hot Shot. I watched them communicate, Bee's door wings fluttering every so often. I couldn't tell if he was frustrated or what, but they continued to flutter.  
"Bee doesn't remember everything but he does remember Megatron was the one who disabled his vocalizer. The rest of the injuries were caused by his men." Hot Shot was looking at Bee the whole time he was talking. "Right before they started their assault, he saw Megatron take Starlight south east. Sir…that's towards the 'Cons base." The eldest looked up at me.  
"I figured he would take her there…" I sighed. Bee nudged Hot Shot to get his attention.  
"Bee…and I both want to know, what is the plan?"  
"I'll have to run a few things by Jazz and Prowl but we need to move as soon as we can. Primus knows what he has in store for Star…" Bee made a furious clicking noise at me and I looked to Hot Shot for the answer.  
"He…said he knows Megatron is your brother." Had I truly neglected to tell them who Megatron really was? Hot Shot knew, I knew that much, but maybe I truly had forgotten to tell the younglings.  
"Yes, he is. He and I share the same Sire. I meant to tell you both but…I apologize for not telling you sooner." I put my hand on Bee's helm like I did when he was little. "I never thanked you for going after Starlight. It took a lot of courage to chase down a 'Con alone." Bee made a happy noise and patted my other hand, his new way of saying "You're welcome."

Starlight's View:  
I told them what they wanted. Names, places, all sorts of other stuff but with my own twist. None of the "facts" were real and names didn't match up with the jobs they had. I was let "free" on the condition that I would see Megatron. It wasn't like I had a choice in the matter, seeing as Shockwave cuffed me and dragged me out of the cell.  
"My lord in anxious to see you again." I didn't bother asking why. I didn't really care and was focused on looking for a way out. For a Decepticon base, there didn't seem to be a lot of bots around.

We entered a room that I couldn't help but compare to a throne room. Someone had a huge ego…said bot stood from his seat that was a top a set of stairs and started to descend towards us.  
"Ah, Starlight, my little niece." I was shoved forward by the bot holding me. "Shockwave, is that anyway to treat her? Remove the stasis cuffs." The leader waved his hand and Shockwave did what he was told. I rubbed my wrists and stepped away from the one opticed monster. "Much better. Come." The silver mech waved for me to follow him.  
He lead me back the way we came but instead of going straight, took a turn to the left. All the while, I was looking for a way to escape.  
"I wouldn't bother if I were you." I looked up at the large mech leading the way. "There is no way you can escape with out us knowing." His tone told me he was smirking. "Besides, I'm not going to hurt you. You're my family." I knew that was a load of slag.  
"Why am I here?" I asked as he entered when looked like a mess hall but had only one table and two chairs.  
"I wanted to meet you." Megatron motioned for me to take a seat. He went over to an energon dispenser and got a couple cubs before he came back and sat across from me. "Here, you must me starving." He set the second cube in front of me. I tentatively took it and waited for him to take a drink before I did. "I know we didn't get off on the right foot but let's try again, shall we?"  
What is his motive? I wondered to myself as he called cheers and clinked our cubes together. "I don't understand, what is it you want from me?"  
"As I've said, I don't want anything from you." He set his cube down, lacing his fingers together and resting his head on them. "Tell me about yourself. What are your likes, dislikes? I want to know about you." I resisted the urge to squirm under his gaze. His bright red optics told me he was after something.  
"I'd like to go home." He barked out a chuckle.  
"My, you are a funny one. Shockwave was right about that. So much like your Sire." He stood and started circling me. "You can consider this your new home." He raised his arms and motioned around me. "That is, if you want to. There is…one condition to joining, however." There is was, the ultimatum. "You'd have to give us some information in exchange for your loyalty."  
"I'm not interested." This was the mech who killed my grand-Sire, my creator and Bumblebee and Hot Shot's creator and Sire. "Not after what you have done." I knew it was dangerous to challenge the Decepticon war lord, but I wasn't going to join him.  
"Me? Little one, what have I done to upset you so?" His concerns were false.  
"You killed my creator." I looked him dead in the optics. "You've murdered countless innocent bots!"  
"Sacrifices are necessary in war my dear." His optics darkened. "I'm guessing you've heard of Praxus then?" That place sounded familiar but didn't ring any bells. "Don't worry, there was one survivor. He was selected specifically to live."  
My spark sank when it finally clicked as to why that place sounded familiar. There were tons of neutrals living there and if memory served me right, Prowl was from there. Didn't he have a brother too?  
"Who?" I asked.  
"I don't remember his name." Megatron shrugged. "Praxus had to go. They were still stuck in the old ways of life. There is no such thing as true peace."  
I was beginning to panic a bit but wouldn't allow it to show. There was no way I would show weakness in front of my "loving" uncle. I played with the little that was left in my cube, trying to think of something to say. I noticed from the corner of my optic that he put his hand up to his temple. He was talking to someone.  
"So, you think you can pull a fast one?" I looked back up and had never felt more fearful of my life, even when I was in the cell with Black Sunshine. "You dare lie to me?"  
"I-I didn't lie to you." I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He ran towards me and slammed his fist onto the table, crushing the cube I had been playing with.  
"You gave false information!" He snarled. "You lied to Shockwave, which is the same as lying to me." His logic was flawed but, ok. "We will talk again after your punishment…Soundwave!" A bot entered from the shadows. Had he been here this whole time? "Take her to Shockwave. She will give us the correct information, even if we must force it out of her." So much for not wanting to hurt me.  
"Yes, Lord Megatron." A monotone robotic voice sounded from the blue bot.

Sadly, one bot know some of the things I said were lies. I didn't know who, but had a guess. Now I found myself strapped to a table, arms above my head and legs spread slightly apart. I was completely vulnerable.  
"You're quite clever. Switching some of those facts around and trying to get it passed us. There's one thing you didn't account for. Soundwave can read thoughts" Shockwave said while fiddling with some tools on a table. He was blocking my view so I couldn't see what he was doing. "Since you aren't wiling to tell, I'll just have to retrieve it myself." I wasn't sure I wanted to know what he meant by that.  
"And, how may I ask will you do that?" I nervously asked.  
"Oh, I'm just going to probe your mind." His voice was low and dark. He turned to me, tools in hand. I was in deep slag.

Optimus Prime's View:  
We were ready. Prowl gave us the all clear on the plan, but he wasn't happy about the success rate. It was only an eighty percent success rate but we couldn't waste any more time. I feared what was going to happen.  
The team consisted of Jazz, Ratchet, Hot Shot, Ironhide and me. The plan was to infiltrate the Decepticon base through the under ground tunnels. Right as we were to head out, we got more horrible news.  
"Prime! I'm sorry to interrupt the meeting!" Jetfire burst into the meeting room where we were just finishing up our plans.  
"What is it?" The panic on his face had me on edge.  
"Praxus has fallen. The 'Cons attacked in the middle of the lunar cycle." Jetfire reported with a heavy spark. "There hasn't been a single word of any survivors…"  
This wasn't what I wanted to hear. Praxus was a some what neutral zone but it seemed Megatron didn't care about those who weren't involved in the war.  
"Gather a group and scout the area. There is a chance if any bot survived, they maybe unable to call for help." I ordered Jetfire. The mech nodded and took off to gather a group.  
"Sir, should we hold off on…" Ironhide started but I silenced him with a look.  
"We cannot risk any of the information Starlight might have to fall into Decepticon hands. I will inform Prowl that he is in charge of the Praxus case." Of course I wanted to help out, but there was a more pressing matter I had to attend to. If somehow they managed to hack into Star's processor, information that she might not have even known she had gathered could fall into the wrong hands.

The base was alive with bots running around, each finding out their jobs of where they were going and some trying to contact loved ones. We walked past a few bots who were being comforted when they couldn't contact their friends. I told my men we had a mission to carry out and there was no time to help our comrades. It was all under control with Prowl in charge.

As we left, Hot Shot stopped and turned around.  
"Bumblebee, go home." He sighed at the now mute mech. Bee shook his head and was using his arms to dramatically tell his brother something. "No! You stay here and help out with Praxus. End of discussion." Bee huffed and stepped up towards us. I knew what he wanted.  
"Bumblebee, we need you here." I told the youngling. "Hot Shot is right, you should help with the search for survivors in Praxus." Bee still seemed adamant about going, turning to Hot Shot and saying something through their bond.  
"We know where she is Bee. We don't need you to help locate her." I paused for a moment at those words. Bumblebee and Starlight did have that strange connection that could come in handy. This thought brought me back to what Rocket had said all of those stellar cycles ago. One was now lost and we needed the other to help locate them.  
"He may come." The rest of the team seemed surprised at my response. "His connection to Starlight may be an asset to us." With that, we left.

Joors later, we found ourselves just outside of Kaon. Five of us waited while Jazz scouted ahead to find a way in.  
"I don't like this Prime." Ironhide commented from where we were hidden. "It's too damn quiet." I had to agree, there didn't seem to be anyone out here patrolling.  
"Guys, this way!" Jazz called to us, waving us over. Once we were closer to him he told us what he found. "I found a tunnel entrance up ahead. We'll have ta keep quiet though, Ravage is out an' patrollin' near by." He led us to the tunnel entrance and saw he was right, Ravage was in fact very close. She was just up the ridge and if she was out, so was Soundwave.  
Jazz gave a few hand signals and we went out three at a time. Luck seemed to be on our side and we all got into the tunnel without being seen.  
"'Ight, keep goin' forward. Der's a grate up ahead that'll take us right inta the base." Jazz kept his voice low incase anyone was near.  
"Take the lead, Jazz." I offered. "I'll cover us from behind." The team nodded, following Jazz.  
Jazz peeked up from the grate to make sure it was all clear. "We're good, come on." He pulled himself up and helped everyone else in. "We need to find the brig. Dat's most likely where they're keepin' her."  
"Alright, we'll do groups of three Hot Shot…" I stopped when Bee made a sign to be quiet. His wings started twitching, detecting something we couldn't ear or see. "What is it, Bumblebee?"  
"He say he hears something." Hot Shot replied. Jazz activated his super sonic hearing to tune in.  
"I hear it too. It…sounds like static." He took a step forward. "I think it's someone screamin', or trying ta." All of us had the same realization at the same time, it had to be Starlight.  
"Autobots, move out." I told them and we all followed the noise.

We were in front of a science lab, trying to figure out a way in without the 'Con inside noticing us. Bee signaled to Hot Shot that it was indeed Starlight inside with the 'Con. Jazz was currently hacking the door to get it open while Bee and Hot Shot got ready to be the distraction. I wasn't happy about them doing it, but they volunteered before I could protest. They would meet us back in the tunnel.  
Jazz signaled he was ready and we all hid in out designated spots. Jazz hit the button and the door slid open, Hot Shot stood in the door way.  
"Come get me Decepta-creep!" He called out and took off in the opposite direction. Bee was waiting around the corner to give his brother cover. Not long after Hot Shot had taken off, a purple con took off after him. I recognized him to be Shockwave and worried what he had done to Starlight.  
Ratchet was the first one in, I followed close behind with Jazz in tow. Ironhide stayed by the door to keep watch. The sight wasn't pleasant. Starlight's processor was opened up and hooked to some wires that were downloading information into a near by computer. Star was writhing in pain, energon dripping from the corner of her mouth from screaming her vocalizer raw.  
"Jazz, stop the computer from downloading. Ratchet, can you safely unhook her from the computer?" I commanded and both got to work. I went over to assist the medic.  
"I can get her out safely. She needs to understand that she is safe though. If she is released without realizing it is us, she might attack us." Ratchet was carefully unhooking her from the system. I understood and took her still bound hand.  
"Star, it's me. We're here now sweet spark." I said close to her audio. "It's going to be alright." Her movements slowed down a bit but her static laced screaming didn't relent. I couldn't calm her by rubbing her helm so I tried just rubbing small circles on her cheek. "Shhhh….calm down, you're safe now." When that wasn't working, I spoke to her through our bond.  
-Star, it's ok. I know you're scared but you need to settle down. It's going to be ok. We're here now little one.-  
I felt her pain and fear but I also felt that she had heard me this time. She stopped her screaming and finally opened her optics. She didn't focus on anything though.  
-Sire…?!- She spoke through the bond. –Sire, is it really you?-  
-It's me.-  
-My head…it feels like its on fire.- She was freely crying at this point. I wiped the tears up with my thumb.  
-I'm sorry my sparkling. Ratchet is working on it as fast as he can. Just try to stay calm.-  
"How much longer?" Ironhide asked from the door way.  
"Almost done. I just need to close her up." Ratchet said as he pulled the last wire out. I watched as he closed her up and how she relaxed once he was done. "There. She's closed up. Jazz, have you deleted the files."  
"Done an' done." Jazz said as the screens on the computer went red and blanked out. "All info is gone."  
"Let's move before Shockwave gets the idea he's been dooped." My weapons specialist said from the door.  
Ratchet released the straps holding her down and slowly helped her sit up. "Easy Star. Take it slow." She looked a little dazed still but was able to keep herself up right. I looped her arm around my neck and helped her stand. She took a few shaky steps and leaned heavily on me. She was not able to walk very fast but she could at least walk.  
"Come on, we need to go." Ironhide stepped out into the hall and motioned for us to go. He covered us from the back this time while Jazz and Ratchet took the lead. "We're clear for now." The red mech said from behind me.

Back in the tunnel, we met up with Hot Shot and Bumblebee and asked them how it went.  
"We were able to lose him but I think he alerted the rest that we're here. We should move out." Hot Shot kept his voice low.  
"Right, come on." Ironhide took lead this time. He wasn't the stealthiest but he was the one carrying the most fire power. If we were attacked, he was the one to draw their fire.  
I heard Bee try to say something again and noticed he was looking towards a half conscious Starlight.  
"She's ok. Don't you worry." I reassured him. He nodded, walking in front of us and giving us more cover.  
Even I knew that it had been far too easy getting her out and worried there was more to this. Again, I cursed myself for being right as we heard the screams of jet engines above us. Everyone quickly formed their guns and prepared for a fight.  
"Prime, get her out of here!" Ratchet called. I, like Star, didn't want to leave my friends behind, but I also had to get my youngling out of harms way. "Go!" Deciding it was best to get her out of there, I tried to make a run for it but was stopped by a silver form landing right into my path.  
"Long time no see, brother." Megatron smirked. "I see you've got her back. To bad it won't last." He aimed at me, leaving me no choice but to grab Star and jumping out of the way as the shot hit the ground near us.  
"Sire…I-I can stand." She said softly. I set her down, made sure she really could and went after my brother.  
"Cover Star!" I called to Bee. The yellow bot quickly ran to her side and guarded her.

Starlight's View:  
I was still a little out of it but was able to figure out what was going on. I was out of that horrible room and away from the crazy scientist, but I can't remember how. I stood back to back with Bee as Cons descended from the skies.  
"So, how did we get into this situation?" I asked my friend. I knew something was wrong when he didn't respond. "Bee?" I turned my head to look at him he had a sad look in his optics but he still wasn't saying anything. He made a motion towards his throat, signaling something that I couldn't quite understand. "Can…you not speak?" He nodded and it clicked. When Megatron had him he must have done something to his vocalizer.  
Before I could try to ask how, another Con landed by us forcing us to break our conversation and fight.  
In the chaos I was grabbed again. My "dotting uncle" had a hold of me and had his blaster aimed at my helm.  
"Enough of this Prime!" Everyone halted their movements, including the 'Cons. "Surrender, or you little sparkling gets it."  
I heard a pitiful whine that had to have come from Bee while the rest gasped in surprise.  
"Let her go." My Sire growled.  
"Bow down to me and I will." He tightened his grip on my neck, causing my intake systems to stall. I could feel the heat of his gun against my temple. He was distracted at the moment but there was noting I could do. If I had my swords, I would have been able to stab him.  
"I will never bow down to you…" Sire formed his swords. "You're fight is with me. Not with her. Come after me."  
"Oh, I don't think you understand how this works." I felt the gun heat up more and knew a blast was coming. "You have five nano seconds to decide." I felt my optics widen as I realized the dire situation I was now in. I closed my eye and expected the worst but it never came.  
Suddenly, Megatron was jolted from behind, making him let me go. The force made me fall forward, landing hard on my arms. I scrambled to my feet and ran behind my Sire. I realized who had cause the jolt and smiled. Bumblebee had snuck up behind the 'Con leader and shot him point blank. Some how this didn't offline him but allowed me to get away and the rest of our team to transform and get the frag out of there.

Back at base, I was rushed to the med bay to get checked up and weapons put back in. Everything was fine. My processor was fully functional and nothing and really been tampered with. I was given an all clear and released with in a few joors.  
Sire was outside and the moment I came out, he took me in his arms and just held me.  
"I was so worried." I could hear the strain in his voice and how hard he was trying to hold back tears. I wrapped my arms around him, burring my face in his chassis and tried to keep from crying too.  
"I'm sorry, Sire. I should have listened to you. If I had gone back…none of this would have happened." I sobbed.  
"Shh…you did nothing wrong. In fact you did exactly what I would have done. I shouldn't be so overly protective and trust in you abilities." I looked up at him and saw he was crying too. "I can't help it though. You're all I have left. You are the reason I keep fighting." It was my turn to comfort him. I allowed him to hold me as long as he wanted.  
"I won't disobey again." I promised.  
"I know you won't. But I also don't want you to stop protecting those precious to you. Don't let yourself be controlled by others and always go with your spark." He rubbed my helm like he did when I was little. I found myself purring softly from his comforting touches. "Other wise we are no better than the 'Cons. They follow Megatron blindly."  
"So…am I allowed to question you judgment now?" I teased.  
"Only if you deem it absolutely necessary." He squeezed me one last time and let me go. "I love you Starlight. Please be careful out there."  
"I will if you will Sire. I don't want to lose you either. I love you too much to see you go."


	22. Chapter 22

WARNING:  
There is a M scene at the end. When is switches back to Starlight's after Bee's view is where it starts. It will be marked with a double line. No flames, no complaints, and don't read if you don't like. You have been warned.

Starlight's View:

Everybot had been treating me different ever since I had come back. They would stop talking with each other every time I would walk by, then whisper about me after they thought I was out of audio range. Most of them worried if I was ok, but there were a few who thought I had gone rouge. They only ones that didn't treat me different were Hot Shot, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Iron Hide, Jazz, Prowl and of course my Sire.  
And even though I had been scanned multiple times by just about every medic we had on staff, I was yet again having my processor scanned for any anomalies by Ratchet.  
"I'm telling you, I'm ok!" I sighed, tired of going through this almost daily. It had been almost 12 megacycles since I had been kidnapped.  
"One can never be too careful." Ratchet continued his scan despite my protests. I rolled my optics but let him do what he wanted to do.  
"You can scan me all day and nothing will change." I muttered. He gave me a look that told me if I continued to complain, a wench to the head was soon to be in my future.  
I heard someone cry out in a nearby room. I wondered if it was the new bot, the one from Praxus.  
Everybot was on edge after the fall of Praxus. The neutral zone was gone and all but one bot had been killed for no reason other than Megatron wanted to show off how powerful he was. I had learned from Hot Shot that the bot who had survived was Prowl's brother, Blue Streak. He was still being treated for his injuries and PTSD. Other than Prowl and Rathcet, no one had seen or met the poor bot yet. I couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like for him.  
"Who was that?" I asked the old medic.  
"Don't you worry about it." Was his blunt answer. "He'll be fine…" But the way he said it made me think Blue Streak would never be ok again.

When I was finally set free, and nothing was found yet again, I went off to try to find Bee. He and the others were busy with the Praxus situation and we didn't have a lot of time to be alone together. I wanted to talk with him, tell him how much it meant that he came after me and how much it hurt being forced to watch him get beat up while I could do nothing to stop it. My spark felt like it was being crushed just thinking about it. I wanted him to know, I would have done the same for him. I loved him, more than I had first thought. The question was, did he love me back?  
It took forever, but I tracked him down and found him in one of the shooting ranges. He was practicing, alone and had told other bots not to disturb him. Something was troubling him but no one, except a select few, had the patients to try to figure out what he was trying to say.  
"Bee?" I called over the sounds of his gun fire. He stopped, disarming his guns and looked towards me. For some reason he kept his battle mask down, I couldn't see his face so I couldn't tell what he was thinking. "Are you ok?"  
He shook his head, finally putting his mask up and coming towards me. He let out a few frustrated whines before trying to convey what was bothering him. Mostly hand gestures and a few broken noises from his vocalizer. I got most of it though.  
"I know, I'm sorry. I wasn't allowed to go around the base alone for a while and then all of this stuff with the neutral bots…" I embraced my friend as I spoke. "I missed you too." He let go and shook his head. I knew he meant to say it wasn't all on me. Both of us had been busy with our own thing. "How have you been?"  
He shrugged. I guess seeing all of the destruction first hand was pretty surreal. I wasn't sure if he saw any offline bots, but even if he didn't the pictures I had seen…it was a miracle Blue Streak even survived. I told Sire what Megatron had said, about him being chosen to survive. Sire said he would look into the reasoning, but so far nothing.  
Bee pulled me out of my thoughts by trying to talk to me again. He warbled and looked me in the optics. I didn't understand what he was trying to say, that was a first.  
"Yes?" I tried to get him to say it again, but he shook his head. "Bee, I'm sorry, I didn't…" He shocked me by pulling me down and putting his lip components to mine. He didn't want talk, he wanted show me what he felt. It was awkward at first, but after a few tries we finally had it right. It wasn't how everyone said it would be, no fireworks or whatever, but it did feel right. It was then that I knew that Bee and I really were meant to be.  
"Bee." I broke our kiss and noticed his optics had dimmed a bit. "Bond with me." I had an elaborate speech but it all went away when I looked at him. He looked just as shocked as I was.  
"I-I mean…One day but…oh frag…" I sighed and tried to turn away but he wouldn't let me look away from him.

Bumblebee's View:

How was I supposed to react? The bot I loved admitted she wanted to bond with me! But…I can't tell her I do to! It frustrated me that I couldn't tell her I wanted the same thing. I had her full attention still but no way to talk…that wouldn't stop me though.  
I held up a hand, telling her to wait and tried to find a data pad to write on. I knew there was one around, but Ironhide moved it constantly and no one ever knew where but him. I dug through the drawers that held extra bullets and finally found it under an empty box in the drawer. I quickly typed what I wanted to say and handed it to her.  
It said:  
Starlight, I want the same thing! Even if it's a ways away, I do want to bond with you.  
I love you, and will always love you. Let's hold off on bonding until we know it's safe  
Bonding was a dangerous thing. Optimus went through it and he had told us the pain he had felt after Raindown went offline. Bonding involved two sparks becoming one, creating a connection that couldn't be broken by anything but death. It was permanent and meant the two bots would be together eternity. Once broken, the pain nearly took the living mate offline. I didn't want that for her. If anything happened I didn't want her to be in pain.  
"Bumblebee." She hugged me tightly, causing me to drop the data pad in the process. I wrapped my arms around her and never wanted to let her go. "You're right, we should hold off. But, I still…want to be with you." Her faceplates turned a light shade of pink and I felt my faceplates heat up a bit too. I knew what she was implicating. I nodded, wanting the same thing but didn't know what to do.  
I made a frustrated noise, wanting to ask her. She laughed and took my hand.  
"Follow me." She said, and led me out of the shooting range.

She led me back to her place. Optimus was in meetings all day and we both knew my brother had the day off and would be back at my place. We were alone, finally. I felt a wave of excitement and fear hit me all at once as we went in.

Starlight's view:

My spark with beating so fast, I thought it would burst out of my chest. I was nervous, excited…some other emotion I couldn't describe, but I knew this was right. No one else made me feel this way. I led him to my room and made sure the door was locked, just in case. Bee sat on my berth and patted the spot next to him. How was he so calm?  
I swallowed hard and sat next to him. I realized he was just as scared when I saw him wring his hands together a few times before I stopped him.  
"Me too…" I reassured him. "I'm…nervous. And I know you would never force me, and I would never force you, so…if you don't want to…" He took my hand, looked me in the optics again and made a few encouraging noises.  
We kissed again, this time letting our hands wonder over each other's bodies. Finally, I was allowed to explore the seams on his door wings.  
Jazz was right, when touched right Bumblebee would moan softly and his wings would twitch happily. He was loving the attention on them. I found that wasn't the only place on him that was sensitive. The seams on his sides and his hip joints were also very sensitive. His body started to relax more, allowing me to really get in and message his sore joints.  
He had found some on me as well. My sides, like his, were sensitive but my neck was apparently very sensitive and he enjoyed kissing and teasing me there. He was gentle with me, never once biting to hard or digging too deep into my seams. I tried my best to do the same, but those wings of his were a little too sensitive. I'd accidently rubbed to hard and had it flicked out of my hand a few times before I got it right.  
Both of us were worked up by this point, and I wasn't too surprised when I heard the hissing noise of our panels opening. Bee of course was embarrassed about his spike extending without his say, but I reassured him it was ok.  
"It's alright. Bee, please don't look away from me." I cupped his cheek and made him look me in the optic. "There's nothing to be scared of. It's me." I smiled at him. He made a whining sigh and relaxed a little bit.  
I made him lay on his back. I wanted to test how sensitive his spike really was. With his consent, I touched it lightly at first and slowly worked up a faster pace.  
The way his hip bucked told me he was enjoying my touches. I moved my other hand lower and felt a warm fluid coming from his valve. I knew already that he was a carrier mech, but seeing it was…amazing. Bee moaned when I slid a finger inside of him, making sure to keep my other hand moving along his spike. He voiced his approval with moans and broken static noises.  
There wasn't a single part of Bumblebee I didn't love. I leaned over, removing my hand away from his spike, and kissed him as I played with his valve a little more. I watched his face and eyes between kisses to make sure he was ok. He was loving this.  
I was going to say something, but he caught me off guard and flipped our positions. His optics were a deep dark blue now, darkened by lust. He gave me a questioning look and I nodded, giving him permission to do what he wanted. I gasped when he did something I never thought of, using his glossa on my valve. The feeling was incredible! I felt my body arch but I couldn't make any sounds other than incoherent noises and broken moans. He hit every sensor node inside and out; I felt a pressure building in me and a warning about over heating flashed in my hud.  
"B-Bee! Frag…I-I…" He stopped at my word and leaned back over me. He looked a little worried but I reasureed him with a kiss on his nose. I took a few deep intakes to compose myself a bit before talking again. "I-I'm ready…" I said softly. I felt even more nervous as we moved into a better position. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and he lined himself up.  
He smiled and kissed me to distract me when he entered me. I felt my seal pop and felt a little pain as he entered me. "S-slow down!" I cried out, it hurt and I needed to adjust. He stopped, peppering kisses on my cheeks to calm me and hummed his apologies. I had no idea that when your seal broke it would hurt. After a few clicks, it felt better and I told him to move again. He took it much slower this time, waiting for me to give him the ok until he fully sheathed himself in me.  
We stayed this way for a while, enjoying being joined together and kissing the pain away. I started to get impatient after a few clicks and moved my hips, causing both of us to moan. Bee took this as a sign and started to move his hips, slowly building a good pace. I pulled him closer, wanting to convey how good he was making me feel. He pulled me close and sat up, never once making it so we had to part and sat me in his lap. This pushed him deeper in me, causing me to cry out.  
The world didn't matter right now. In this moment it was just Bumblebee and me. All we cared about was making sure the other was feeling good. The pleasure built and I felt like I was about to explode. The pressure in me was at its peak but I didn't want to overload yet. Bee must have felt my hesitation and rubbed gentle circles on my shoulders with his right hand while his left cupped my cheek. I looked into his optics and saw nothing but pure love. I felt the pressure release, overload taking me to a whole new level of pleasure. I vaguely remember crying out Bee's name as I came.  
Bee must have overloaded as well, because when I came out of my haze, he was laying on my chest, just as spent as I was. I rubbed his helm, getting him to come out of his overload haze. .  
"I love you…" I purred to him as he stirred. He lifted his head and kissed my chest plating, right over where my spark was. He purred back and moved off of me to lay by my side. Both of us were too tired to clean ourselves up right now. Luckily, there was a wash room connected to my room and I made a mental note that both of us should use it when we awoke. I laid my head on his chassis, and cuddled with him like we had so many times before. This time, it meant something different. Finally, we were together.

Bumblebee was gone when I awoke and left a data pad on my desk. His note read:  
I was called in to help out with some meeting...  
I'm sorry I had to leave, I wanted to wake with you.  
We'll talk again soon and I promise to make it up to you!  
Love Bumblebee  
I laughed to myself. He really needed to work on his hand writing.  
"Starlight, report". My Sire's voice startled me, causing me to drop the data pad. Primus he nearly gave me a spark attack.  
"Sire?" I quickly responded. "Is something wrong?"  
I heard him sigh. "We need to talk."  
"W-what about?" Was I in trouble?  
"Come to my office when you can. We'll talk here. Over and out." He hung up before I could say anything else. He had started treating me more like a soldier lately. I didn't really know if I should be proud or upset about that fact.

The whole time I worried that he knew Bee was over last night and was going to be scolded for it. The logical side of me said he wouldn't care, since Bee and I had sleepover at each other's homes thousands of times without a problem. But maybe he overheard us. Oh Primus that would be just great.  
I knocked on his door and heard him say to come in. I took a deep breath and entered. To my surprise, Prowl was there.  
"Please, come sit." Sire was being very formal with me.  
"Sire, what's going on?" Something was off. The feeling in the room wasn't what it usally was. There was no warmth, only an empty feeling of something missing. The question was, what?  
"Our planet is dying." Prowl said bluntly. The SIC was standing near Sire's desk, hands behind his back and door wings up in a defensive way. It was typical of him to be up tight, but not like this.  
"What do you mean?" As I approached them, Prowl watched me with his icy blue optics. He didn't seem to be in a very friendly mood.  
"The other night…the Allspark disappeared." Sire sighed. "The Decepticons used the cleanup effort of Praxus as a cover to try to take it. Our men stopped them but…in the shootout it was lost in space." Holy slag…   
"Sire, why haven't you told us until now?" This meant our planet would slowly dye off, leaving nothing but an empty lifeless shell, completely void of life. Worst, it meant thousands would die of starvation as the energon supply ran dry.  
"I didn't want to spread panic. It has been discussed and the official announcement is being made by Jazz now. I wanted to tell you in person." Sire stood from his desk and walked to his window, looking out over the city as he spoke. "It's been decided that we must leave this planet and seek out where the All Spark has gone. When it is found, we can return and restart life here."  
I felt dizzy all of the sudden and Prowl had to catch me.  
"Are you alright?" The black and white mech asked me, keeping me steady on my feet.  
"Yeah…" My Sire was right beside me as well, worry written on his face. "I…just got dizzy." That was strange, it felt like someone was in my mind for a nano-sec. "Sire…"  
"It's been settled. I'm sorry Starlight, but if we stay we'll die. We're risking too many lives…" I understood.  
"What do we do?"  
"Prowl, Jazz, and I have come up with a plan. We're dividing into teams and going out to find the All Spark." He moved back to his desk and picked up a data pad. "The plan is to build, at most, five ships and send them each a different direction to cover more ground." He told me how each ship would be manned by a team of military bots and also hold a number civilians. About five hundred bots per ship. Though just three ships would hold all of the Autobots. I assumed the numbers would be divided out to keep everything even.  
"The ships will take time to build, and at the rate we are going, they should hopefully be done in a few stellar cycles. Until then, we must up our defenses to make sure the Deceptions don't find out."


	23. Chapter 23

Starlight's View:  
The stellar cycles flew by and as the time came to launch loomed closer, the more I worried Bee and I would be separated. We'd become even more inseparable during this time. We were deeply in love but had to keep it somewhat of a secret. Sire knew of course, but that was because Hot Shot had caught us in the training room making out. Of course, Sire was the one to tell us to be careful of who knew and that he was happy to welcome Bumblebee into our family; even though he already was. He also warned against merging or bonding until the Allspark was found. That was the most awkward conversation I had with him. Both Bee and I were blushing by the end of it.  
Hot Shot constantly teased us now and asked us when the bonding ceremony would be every other megacycle. Bumblebee had called him out on it a few times, but Hot Shot just laughed and put him in a playful headlock. In his own way, he was happy for us.  
Unfortunately, Hot Shot let it slip to the twins and those two spread it around. Now all of the Autobots knew, but no one outside of our group was to know. Ratchet came down hard on Sunny and Sides and warned them if they told anyone else, he'd personally take them offline. Too bad it was far too late.

I asked him time and time again, but Sire had told me he was still getting the teams in order and wouldn't say what team I was on. I worried I would be stuck with a team I had no idea how to work with. Though, knowing Prowl, it would "work logically and everyone's abilities would complement each other." And I, being the next in line to become a Prime, I might be placed into a position to control my own ship. I wasn't ready for that...I wasn't ready to lead a team.  
"Sire." I decided to tell him now. We were both at home, one of the rare times we both had time off, and I would have his full attention for the next few mega-cycles.  
"Yes?" He asked. He was sitting in a chair across from me reading a data pad. He didn't bother looking up.  
"I-I'm not ready to lead a team." I blurted out. "I mean…I know I'm a Prime or at least will be one day, but I can't lead a team yet. I'm not ready, I'm not ready to be like you"  
Sire chuckled and set the pad down. "Is this about the teams? Are you worried you'll have to lead a team or are you worried about being pulled apart from Bumblebee?" I felt my face heat up a bit. He laughed again. "Don't worry, both you and Bee are on the same ship. Most of the teams are now set up and you both will be with me. And as for you being my daughter, I know what you mean. I never thought I would be leading…well anything."  
"Really?" I couldn't imagine him being scared to lead. "You were scared?"  
"At times, I still am. I worry if I make the wrong choice, how many will suffer because of my mistake." He took my hand in both of his. "One day, you'll realize you can do it."  
"How did you know? How did you find out you could do it?" I asked.  
"When the war began. I was the one that helped established the Autobots. From there…everyone looked to me for the answers and from there I just became the leader. I didn't do it alone though. Without Ironhide, Ratchet…" He trailed off before saying. "Rocket, Coraline and Raindown, this would have never of happened. The Autobots exist because of our teamwork."  
"Sire…did you want to be the leader?" He thought for a moment before answering.  
"At first, no. I was young and had graduated from the academy just two stellar cycles earlier and had achieved the title of Prime not long after. I was confused, but your creator and the others helped me. Then you came. When you were born, I realized that I needed to step up and make a better world. A world where you, Bee, and everyone else would be safe." His features softened as he spoke. "Though the war raged on, together we were able to build Iacon and create a place where bots could feel safe. Yes, I know it's not perfect, but before we had nothing."  
"You mean, Iacon didn't exist before?" I was curious. Never before had Sire opened up so much to me.  
"It did, but it was more of a military bunker. As more joined our cause, we began to expand. The walls around the city were the first thing to go up. After that, the base grew and from there more buildings were build. The base you see today is nothing like it was back then. The only part that is original is the medical bay."  
"Really? I remember a little bit of the old base. I guess…I didn't notice how much it grew."  
"You were very young when the expansions started. You had just turned three when the housing area was being built. It was finished just a stellar cycle later." He stopped and put his finger to his temple. "Optimus to Jazz."  
I sighed. So much for spending time with him.  
"Is something wrong?" I whispered to him. He shook his head and continued his conversation with Jazz.  
"I'll be there in a few clicks. Thank you, over and out." He stood and put a hand on my shoulder.  
"The ships are almost done. Would you like to come see them?" I jumped at the opportunity to spend more time with him and followed him.

The ship bay was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Then again, I should have guessed it would be to hold five ships.  
"Prime!" I heard Jazz call over the noise of welding and saws. "Ova here!" He waved.  
"Everything looks like it's in order." Sire said to him. I couldn't stop looking at the ships and missed most of their conversation.  
Four of them were silver color and each ship had a different colored stripe around cockpit to indicate what ship was what. None of them had names on the sides yet, but one stood out from the others. It was a golden color and looked less like a war ship than the others.  
"Sire, why is one a different color?"  
"We ran outta the material and had ta improvise. I was against it being so different, but now…it's kinda grown on meh." Jazz responded. "We're callin' that one the Ark."  
"I assume that's the one you wanted to talk about?" Sire said.  
"Yeah, come wit me. I'll show ya the problem. Feel free to look around Sta'! I'm stealin' you Sire for a few clicks." Jazz joked as he led the way. In other words, I wasn't allowed to follow. Whatever it was, it was above my clearance level. I sighed, yet again being blocked from knowing what was going on. How was I supposed to become good leader if I didn't know what was going on?  
I turned to go explore the one with the red stripe. It wasn't done yet, and was missing a side panel. That's when a dizziness hit. It was like that time is Sire's office but this time something was different. I supported myself on table I was near and let it pass. Something was wrong, the voice I heard last time came in much clearer this time. Shockwave…The moment the dizziness passed I ran towards where my Sire went. The mission had to be aborted! We were compromised. But before I could, the dizziness got worst and a warning flashed across my HUD about an immediate shut down. The last thing I heard was someone's voice calling out but I had no idea who or what they said.

I awoke in the med bay with Ratchet hovering over me.  
"Can you hear me?" I heard him, but I didn't see his lips move. Everything had a weird glow around it and nothing seemed to move right. "Slag it all, Shockwave left a bug in her processor. It laid dormant until intel was given to her." He walked out of the room, mumbling about needing new tools  
I tried to move but was pushed back to the berth.  
"Say there littl' one." Jazz said. "Ya shouldn' move just yet. Do ya know where ya are?" I looked at the visored mech, but again, his movements seemed…slow? Was I going crazy?  
"I-I…what's going on?" My own voice sounded echo-y.  
"Ya processor was hacked. Ya're gonna feel a littl' fuzzy for a bit. Does everathin' seem slow? Ya hear an echo?" I nodded. How did he know? "Slag, it's not a fun feelin' is it?" He grabbed a blueish green cube from the table next to me and handed it to me, or tried to.  
"I-I can't tell which one is the real one." To me there were now three cubes and four Jazzs'. I didn't want to reach out to him and fall.  
"I got cha." He shifted himself and helped me drink whatever it was. "This'll make everathing look more normal again. Ya processor is all scrambled right now, but we'll get cha back ta normal."  
"W-why are you here?" Everything was slowly coming back into focus. He helped me finish the cube before he answered me.  
"I took ova for ya Sire. He was here for a bit, but had ta go tweak something with Prowler. I'm also kinda an expert on recoverin' from a processor hack." He said sheepishly. "I've been on the wrong end of Shockwave's experiments a few times myself." So he was just here to help me recover. For a click, I thought I was in trouble.  
"I thought I was in some kind of trouble…" I admitted. "Most of the time when you're here…"  
"I know, when ya hacked ya gotta get screened and all that slag ta make sure ya're not a 'Con. We know ya're not. Ya passed all the tests all ready. Unless ya want me ta question ya again." The black and white mech teased.  
"Primus no…Wait again?" I held my head. It felt like a bad hang over after drinking too much high grade.  
"You were pretty out of it but I got cha to answer some basics." He put his hand on my shoulder. "That'll pass too. Sorry Sta', but there ain't much more I can do. I can defrag you processor wit that stuff," He pointed to the empty cube. "But the processor ache, I'm afraid I have no cure."  
"You may not but I do." The old medi-bot came back with a normal looking cube of energon. "Drink up. You'll need it." I was able to take it from his hand without a problem now. "You're in the clear now. I was able to isolate the bug and get it out of there, but I'm afraid the damage is done. The 'Con's may now know of our plans, and may know what we have been up to."  
"I'm sorry…I never meant for this to happen…" I looked down, focusing on noting but the pink cube.  
"Now, now, it ain't ya fault." Jazz tried to comfort me, but it didn't work. Two stellar cycles of work was ruined because of me. Shockwave won. Megatron won. The reason he didn't kill me was because he knew I would get access to sensitive information. They just waited until now to spring the trap.  
"But it…" Jazz gave me a stern look, stopping me from finishing.  
"Starlight, it wasn't ya're fault. Ya didn't leak information on purpose. Trust me, this ain't the first time Shockwave has stolen info. We'll manage and figure out another plan. Do not blame ya self fo' this." Jazz had never spoke to me like that, or used my full name. I knew he was right, but it didn't stop the guilt I felt.

Later that night, the horrible sensations had all come back. Jazz couldn't give me any more of the stuff he gave me earlier. Apparently it could only be taken once a solar cycle. Hot Shot walked me home and told me Sire was caught up in a meeting. I knew the plans had been ruined and everything had to start over.  
"Bumblebee will be around in a few mega-cycles to see how you're doing ok?" Hot Shot said as he laid me down on my berth. I couldn't tell which one was real…but I think the one on the left was the one that squeezed my shoulder before leaving.

I passed out for a while but awoke to a strange sound. Everything was a little blurry, but I quickly realized what the sound was. There were bombs going off! I stumbled out of my room, running into everything as I went and ran right into Bumblebee. He had just come through the front door.  
"Bee! W-." he told me to hush and lead me towards the main base.

Right as we got away from the housing complex, a bomb fell right on it. Bee and I were thrown to the ground by the blast. I slowly got up and looked back behind us. The flames and broken buildings around us made me dizzy again. I effects of the hacking made me hallucinate there were bots running out of the flames, on fire and damaged, screaming in agony. I knew there was no way that was possible, everyone would have died on contact. The only reason I lived, was because Bumblebee.  
"Bee…why didn't you…we left them to die!" Bee made me look at him and shook his head. He made noises that sounded like speech and communicated they had been evacuated. He went to find me when I didn't show up. "The alarms went off?" He nodded. The effects of this hacking were worse than I thought.

Inside, Sire was commanding units and sending them to different sectors.  
"Get to the hanger! Everyone must evacuate now!" He commanded the rest. "First unit, get civilians to the ships! Unit two to the west, three to the gate!" Bots were running about to get to their places. "Bumblebee, you found her." He stepped down from the podium towards us. "I was worried. Get Starlit to the ships, we need to…" He didn't get to finish. An explosion went off to our left, causing bots to go flying. My Sire grabbed us and threw us to the ground. "Slag…"  
Bumblebee helped me up as Sire got up and transformed his guns. "Get out of here, now!" He called. Bee grabbed my arm and ran towards the hanger. Everything was coming back to focus, but I was unable to run straight without his help. I felt useless as we headed for the Ark. Suddenly Bee stopped and pushed me to the right and a grenade flew towards us. Both of us were able to dodge it and take cover, but in the process we became separated.

Optimus' View:  
The 'Cons attacked sooner than we had planned. Prowl predicted we had a solar cycle at most, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Our only hope now was to get everyone on the four completed ships and pray we find the All Spark in time.  
In the fry, we lost countless bots. Jazz and I fought through hordes of drones Megatron had built just for this mission. This drones were ruthless with no emotions, their sparks being artificial caused them to be this way. I worried no one would survive, but thankfully Prowl was able to get the anti-aircraft guns working on the towers. This put the odds back in our favor.  
"Optimus, we have a problem." Prowl said over comm. Link  
"What is it, Prowl?" I asked as Jazz and I continued to fight what was left of the grounded 'Cons.  
"The 'Cons are starting to take the towers down, we have five clicks tops. Three ships are ready for takeoff. If we're to launch the ark, we need to do so now!"  
"Send everyone who's left to the ark and let the three ships go now. We'll take off as soon as we can."  
I entered the ship, quickly barking orders to get ready for takeoff. At the bridge, I found Bumblebee looking frantic.  
"What's wrong? Where's Starlight?" Bee's optics told me he didn't know either and he told me he hoped she was with me.


	24. Chapter 24

My darlings this has been fun! Thank you all for your support and comments and enjoy the last chapter! There is a sequel in the works.

Starlight's View:  
I tried to make my way back towards the ark but a swarm of civilian bots rushed me. I tried to get out of the way, but I got swept up and pushed into the nearest ship, I think it was green. Bots were frantic and I couldn't get through them to get off the ship. I decided instead of fighting through, I'd follow them until I could make a break for it. Thank Primus it didn't take too long until I was able to get down a hall way and away from the masses. I tried to find a different exit, but of course I was stopped by someone.  
"Halt! No civilians beyond this point!" A green bot I hadn't seen before shouted. His gun currently wasn't pointed at me, but I knew in a spark beat that could change.  
"I'm Starlight, daughter of Optimus. I need to get off this ship." I ordered. He stood at attention at the mention of my name. That was a first.  
"You're supposed to be on the Ark. Come with me." He led me back down the way I came and through a door I had missed. "This way will take us back to the entrance."  
Before we could reach the end of the small hallway, the ship jerked and the engines started up. No…we're taking off! I thought to myself.  
"I'm sorry, but we're taking off. We'll try to meet with the Ark after we get out of range." The bot told me and offered to take me to the bridge. I agreed, and followed him. My spark felt heavy. I knew something was off, but didn't voice my fears like I should have.

Bumblebee's view:  
My spark felt like it stopped when Prime told me Starlight wasn't with him. Where was she? Was she hurt? Was she lost, or worst was she…no I couldn't get caught up in those thoughts.  
"Sir! The first ship is takin' off!" Jazz called out.  
"No, it's too soon." Optimus ran to the vid screen as we all watched the green striped ship take off. "Hail the captain of the ship!" A blue bots face appeared on the screen nano seconds later.  
"Prime sir!" He stood at attention and saluted.  
"Why did you take off early? You know what the plan is."  
"Sorry sir, we reached capacity. I was told to take off at…" He was cut off by an explosion from somewhere on his ship, the warning sirens blaring through the screen. "We've been hit!"  
"Tell the other ships to take off, they need back up." Prime ordered as the screen cut from an electrical shortage on their end.  
I don't know if Prime saw, but I sure did. Starlight was on the ship! I saw her for a quick second, right before the ship was hit. I needed to tell someone, but no one was going to listen right now. Maybe I could get a hold of Hot Shot, if he wasn't too far away.  
Hot Shot! Somethings wrong! I called through our sibling bond.  
Duh Bee, there's a lot of things wrong He was scared too. Innocent bots are getting hurt.  
Starlight's on that ship! I cried. And yes, I know there are also innocents on it too but….But what? Her life wasn't more important than anyone else's, but to me it was.  
"Prime, there's a report of Starlight being on that ship!" I heard my brother call from the other side of the bridge.  
"Can anyone confirm? Analyze the video to find out." Prime said, going towards Jazz. He must have been the one to pull the video up. "Slag…get us in the air now!"  
The ship gave a small jerk after the engines started up and we were in the air.

Starlight's View:  
When we reached the bridge, I saw they were in contact with my Sire. He didn't look happy, but I didn't have time to ask questions. The green bot and I were thrown to the floor when something hit the ship. Smoke from the blast quickly filled the hall as the sirens sounded and commands were called for everyone to get to their battle stations.  
"Starlight, with me!" The green bot helped me up and started leading me deeper into the ship.  
"Where are we going? What is going on?" I knew we had been hit, but I needed to know if the ship was compromised. If so, we should have been evacuating bots.  
"You need to get off this ship. I'm taking you to the escape pods."  
"No!" I stopped running with him and pulled on his arm. "We need to be evacuating the ship. The hull has been breached and bots are in danger!"  
"I'm sorry but your life is more important." He tried to get me to go with him again but I refused.  
"My life is not more important than any other bots." I said sternly to him. "I maybe a Prime's daughter, but that doesn't make me more important, soldier. Now, I order you to help me evacuate the ship." I stormed ahead of him and turned the corner before realizing I had no idea where I was going.  
"Erm, my lady…this way." He pointed the opposite way.

Optimus Prime's view:  
The other ships took off with us and we all raced towards the ship in distress. As we approached the ship, we saw an engine was on fire and a hole had been blown into the side but what we didn't see were enemy ships surrounding it.  
"Sir, Decepticon ships have fallen back!" Ironhide said from beside my captain's chair. "There is no sign of them around the ship." That wasn't a good sign.  
"Try to hail them again. See if anyone answers on any frequency." Clicks passed but no one said a word about getting into contact with them.  
"Sir, there's no signal from the ship." Bluestreak said from his station. "The only way to know is to send someone down there."  
"I'll go, sir." Hot Shot said from behind me. I sighed.  
"Alright. Be careful." In my spark I knew Hot Shot would be able to do this, but I worried about the kind of danger he would be in. Slag knows where the 'Cons had gone off too and it very well could be a trap.  
"I will sir." I hated how much he sounded just like any other soldier.  
Not long after Hot Shot left, we watched escape pods launch from the ship and heading towards a nearby moon. At least there they would be safe and eventually be able to rebuild there.  
Good, everyone seems to be safe. I thought.

Starlight's View:  
Everything was going alright. The 'Cons had stopped firing for now and we were clear for the escape ships to evacuate. Every pod was going to a nearby moon to rebuild there. They would at least be away from Cybertron and could recolonize there until another option became available. The original plan was to find another planet, but this was the only option, unless we wanted to over crowd the other ships.  
"Last civilian pod!" Someone called out as it launched. I sighed in relief. Everyone was safe, save for who was left on the ship.  
"Incoming!" Someone yelled as a gold pod came in to land in an empty launch pad. Everyone readied their guns and aimed as the ship door hissed open.  
"Easy guys, it's me." I heard Hot Shots voice as he stepped out of the pod. "Starlight, there you are. You had us worried."  
"Sorry, I got caught up in the madness." I said as I disarmed my gun. "Everyone is off the ship, except for us." I motioned to the other five bots near me.  
"Good. You guys go. I've got her from here." The bots nodded and got on to the last pod.  
"Come on, you're wit…" But a shot rang out and Hot Shot stopped. My optics widened in horror as energon leaked from the chest wound and Hot Shot fell into my arms.  
"No! Hot Shot…HOT SHOT!" I cried out, slowly lowering us to the ground. Behind me an explosion went off as the last pod that had taken off was shot down. The fight had broken back out, and Hot Shot had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shot had missed that ship the first time and had come through the glass, hitting him right through the chest. Sirens went off and a warning about depressurizing rang through the ship.  
"G-get in to the pod…" He tried to shove me away but was too weak. "Y-you have to get off this ship…is gonna collapse. The engine…"  
"Shhh…" I stopped him. There was nothing I could do to save him. The bullet had damaged his spark casing, but I wasn't going to leave him. "I'm gonna get us out of here, ok? We'll get on the pod, fly to the Ark and get you to Ratchet to patch you up." I told him, my optics blurred with tears. "You're going to be ok." I tried to hold back my sobs.  
"Star…I love you. You're like a sister to me. And…ugh…you and I both know…I ain't gonna make it." He smiled, denta covered in energon from his internal bleeding. "It's ok…tell Bee…tell Bee I loved him too…and…when you two bond, name your kid after me?" I shook my head in disbelief that he was joking with me right now.  
I couldn't hold back any more. "I love you too brother…" I held him close in my lap. "You're going to see…you're going to get through this. Please don't go…" I knew though, he was fading. "I love you…I love you too much…"  
"I…." He tried to say but he never finished, I'd never know what he was going to say. I watched him turn grey and go limp in my arms. I felt my spark shatter into pieces. "No…No Hot Shot…" I tried to wake him, despite the fact I knew he was gone. I screamed in anguish over his body. My friend…my brother was gone.

Bumblebee's View:  
We fired back at the 'Cons. They had ambushed us, lying in wait for us to take the bait. Two ships had gone down, one crashing into another moon and the other destroyed on impact. Prime hailed the last civilian ship, the one with a red stripe, and demanded that they land where the other had crashed. The Ark would be used as a decoy to draw them away.  
In the midst of the battle, the green ship exploded. My spark…suddenly felt empty. I didn't understand why, until I tried to reach out to Hot Shot and got nothing back. There was a painful, empty feeling inside my spark.  
No…not him too… I ran to look out a hull window in time to see a gold pod fly off in the opposite direction. It was heading deeper into space. He's got to be there… Deep down, I knew he wasn't on that ship, but I had to keep believing right now. It was the only thing keeping me going.

Optimus Prime's View:  
We were able to draw fire away from the red ship and thankfully they got away safely. Unfortunately, we had attracted the attention of the Nemesis, Megatron's ship.  
"Get some distance between them and us. Follow the pod." Something told me Starlight was on it, but Hot Shot…no, he was with her. He had to be.  
We tried to follow the pod but it was more agile than we were and got quite a ways away. It was just barely detectable on screen or with our raider.  
"Nemesis is starting to close in sir! And the pod is heading for some kind of strong energy field. Sir, we need to get away from that and the 'Cons." Prowl was monitoring how close the 'Cons were to us.  
"We must catch that pod. What is on the other side of the field?" I asked him.  
"Unknown sir. There's a strong chance our ship could get caught and we could be stranded." Prowl said as he analyzed the different possibilities.  
"Be a bad idea ta get stuck wit the 'Cons afta us." Jazz sighed. "But, if we turn and try ta avoid it, we'll be caught by the 'Con anyway. You call Boss."  
I thought it trough for a few clicks and decided to risk going through the energy field. "Press onward."  
Just as we were about into the field, the 'Cons hit us, taking out an engine. Sirens rang out and called for everyone to get into their station.  
"Sir, we're down one engine!" Bluestreak yelled. "The fire is out but we are down to two engines. We'll have to land as soon as we can!"  
"Get us through the field! Jazz, find the closest planet to land on!" I barked out other orders for everyone to brace for impact.  
We hit the field, an electrical current surging through the ship and causing the readings to go haywire. Jazz said something about the Nemesis' engine going offline but I didn't hear all of it over the noise. I was also focused on the pod, watching it slow before being launched forward by the energy. Our ship was also hurdled out of the field by the same energy, pulling us out of the field in in front of a blue planet. There was no sign of the pod. My spark sank when it wasn't even detected on radar.  
Our ship was instantly caught in the planets gravity field, but we couldn't get away from it. When we were pushed forward, a second engine went out, making us unable to pull free. We hit the atmosphere, as everyone was told to brace for immediate impact and we crashed into a mountain side. Everyone on board, including me was put into an emergency stasis to keep us alive.

Present time:  
Optimus Prime:  
We awoke thousands of years later to find the All Spark had landed on this planet as well. We fought bravely to obtain it, but in the end it was destroyed by Megatron. We now live on this planet called Earth. I invite anyone still left out there among the stars to join us, here on our new found home.  
I send out this signal to anyone who may hear it.  
Starlight, if you can hear me, please come home.

Prolog:  
Stellar cycles passed and each one got harder and harder. This place was decollate but the view…it was worth it. It over looked a blue planet on one side and on the other was a view of several other planets and galaxies as far as the optic could see. The energy field must had transported me through a worm hole and I landed on this moon. Unfortunately my pod wasn't as lucky as me. It was damaged beyond repair and I had no way of fixing it. Thankfully the emergency stasis systems had worked and I was awoken a few hundred stellar cycles later. The problem now was until something came on to this moon, I would be stuck here for a while.  
I heard a ping and pressed my finger to my temple.  
"My name is Optimus Prime…"   
I gasped in shock. "Sire?"


End file.
